Who should we believe when it comes to fertility?

HOW old is too old to have a baby? For many women in their 30s and 40s, that question nags away at them as they try to strike a balance between their career, their finances and their desire to start a family.

If you ask the medical profession for an answer, the message is clear: don’t delay. Get pregnant in your 20s if possible, when female fertility is thought to peak. Any later and you face the prospect of infertility, or health problems associated with older pregnancy (see “Fertility facts: How late can you leave it to have a baby?“).

However, the real world seems to be ignoring that advice. In England and Wales, the mean age for a woman to give birth has been rising since the mid 1970s and is now over 30. Women in their 40s have more babies than those under 20, and the highest number of births per capita is among women aged 30 to 34.

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