Women continue to have children much later in their lives due to the changes in the technology and the social values. Being a mother after forty years has its advantages and disadvantages. Most of the mothers currently have preferred having children at an older age. The encouragement by the government to have some children one can provide for has also contributed to this. This paper will be discussing the negatives and the positives of having the child in 40s and onwards.
Positives of Having Baby Later in Life
There are various advantages of having the baby after forty years. The first advantage is that the brain power of the mothers is boosted. Research has shown that late pregnancies protect the mothers against the cognitive decline. The women who have children at an early age tend to have a brain decline after the menopause as compared to those who have their children at the age of forty years onwards. There is a positive connection between later age pregnancy and the late-life cognition[1]. Also, there is a possibility of the improvement in the brain function, and the likelihood of having memory lose reduces if a woman uses hormonal contraceptives for more than ten years or start menstruation before the age of thirteen years. The explanation behind this theory is that long-term brain function is affected by the hormones.
Secondly, there will be increased income over time if one decides to give birth during or after the age of forty years. There is a significant relationship between the age a woman has the first child and the income losses and gains. Women starting up families when they are older have a higher possibility of improving their earning potentiality. Children have no impact on the careers, but the earlier the children are given birth to the more the income of their mothers is affected negatively. After giving birth, one will have to stop working for sometimes to provide proper care to the child. This will affect the earnings of the young mothers who have just started to work. Older women have saved enough money and giving birth will have a little impact on their earnings. The age at which a woman has a child affects the lifelong earnings for those who have and those who do not have college degrees.
Thirdly older mothers can provide emotional and educational support to their children. Women who have children at and after the age of forty years are less stressed about their job security or income, and they always tend to be patient and have enough time with their children and families. How the child will develop will depend on how he or she was brought up at the early stage of life. Giving children enough time and appropriate care will ensure that they develop well. Young mothers might not get enough time for their children due to education and work. The children who are not given proper care while they are still young are more likely to suffer from emotional challenges when they grow up.
Finally, giving birth at a later age is likely to have a long-term positive outcome for the child. Considering increased potential earning, having children at the age of forty years onwards is linked with long-term benefits to the child. The child will be in a position to get all the requirements due to the financial stability of the mother[2]. Statistics show that the children from the older mothers have fewer health issues as compared to the children from young mothers. Research has also shown that the children who are born to the older mothers have a long stay in the educational system, performs best in the standardized tests, and have more chances of joining universities and colleges as compared to their peers who are born to the young mothers. Furthermore, it has been discovered that since older mothers have the possibility of staying in school for a long time, they use more vocabularies during the interaction with their children. This kind of parental role model will have a positive impact on how the children will communicate and how they will perform in school.
Negatives of Having Baby Later in Life
Having children at the age of forty years and onwards has its disadvantages. First, the child will not get proper guidance until he or she grows fully due to the old age of the mother. The child will be faced with the social issues as the parent will not have appropriate time to teach the child how to handle various issues in life. The child will also have the little respect for the parent since she will not be in a position to provide proper discipline. The mother at the age of frothy onwards will no longer be thinking much on the future life of the child but on how she will spend her life after retirement ant the challenges that will come with it afterward.
Secondly, giving birth at an older age has been associated with serious health issues on the mother. The immune system of an individual reduces with rising in age. Older mothers will suffer various complications after giving birth since their immune system is no longer strong as compared to when they were still young[3]. This, in turn, will have an impact on the child as he or she might not be breastfed during that period when the mother is unwell. At an older age, and the individual has the complication during delivery, and she has to undergo a cesarean section. Statistics have shown that older mothers die during delivery as compared to the young mothers.
Finally, it is hard to become pregnant at the age of forty onwards. Research has shown that more than half of the women at the age of forty and above are faced with facility problems. It will take a significant period before and the older woman gets pregnant as compared to a younger one. For an older woman to get pregnant should be proper guidance at all. One can also face the risk of not having children at all by deciding to have children at an older age. The low chances to conceive at an older age are contributed by health factors including the health condition of a person.
Conclusion
In conclusion, having children at the age of forty and above will give one a mother the best opportunity prepares financially. Also, the child will have proper emotional and educational support. On the other hand, getting children at the older age leads to many health risks. It is important to take into consideration several factors before deciding on having a child at an older age.
Bibliography
Bostock, Yvonne, and Maggie Jones. Now or Never?: Having a Baby Later in Life. Wellingborough: Thorsons, 2017.
Judd, Bec, and Lauren Sams. The Baby Bible: A Guide to Taking Care of Your Bump, Your Baby and Yourself. 2018.
Kirby, Serena. Better Late Than Never Baby: Becoming a Mother Later in Life. 2013.
[1]
Yvonne Bostock and Maggie Jones, Now or Never?: Having a Baby Later in Life (Wellingborough: Thorsons, 2017), 39
[2]
Bec Judd and Lauren Sams, The Baby Bible: A Guide to Taking Care of Your Bump, Your Baby and Yourself
(2018), 23-25
[3]
Serena Kirby, Better Late Than Never Baby: Becoming a Mother Later in Life (2013), 61
