Welcome to Mothers 35 Plus, the website for older mothers
Mothers 35 Plus is the UK's leading website devoted to 'late motherhood' and has been online since 1998. Whether you are about to have your first, second or tenth baby, if you are an older mother or want to be an older mother this is the place to be!
'Older motherhood' is now official, since birth statistics published in December 2007 by the UK's 'Office for National Statistics' show that more women than ever before are choosing to become mothers later in life. The trend is also backed up by figures from other countries around the world and the controversial subject of older mothers is now rarely out of the news, with many well-known women giving birth later in life.
In developed countries there is an upsurge in the age of mothers giving birth for the first time, and in the UK alone there are now more first-time mothers giving birth in the 30-34 age group than in the 25-29 age group. There is also a 50% increase from ten years ago in the number of women aged 40 - 44 who are having a baby. For the latest statistics on older mothers and older motherhood, please see our facts and figures page.
Due to IVF techniques, mothers are getting older and older, with Patricia Rashbrook from the UK giving birth in July 2006 at the age of 62, and in December 2006 a 67-year-old Spanish woman gave birth to twins via IVF. In November 2008 a 70-year-old Indian woman officially become the 'world’s oldest mum' after giving birth to a baby girl.
But... it's not only women who are giving birth later in life! Recent figures from the UK's Office for National Statistics show that there are now more older fathers than ever before. Since 1980, there has been about a 40 per cent increase in the number of men between 35 and 50 fathering children and a 20 per cent decrease in the number of fathers under 30.
Conception rate for women aged 40 and over reaches record high, increasing by over six per cent from 11.5 per 1,000 women aged 40-44 in 2005, to 12.2 in 2006.
Source: Office for National Statistics
In the US, statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics show that in 2004 about 24 in every 1000 men aged 40 - 44 fathered a child. This is up almost 18% from a decade ago.
Is there a "right" time to have a baby?
For some women the "right" time to have a baby may be in her twenties which, physically, is the optimum time for a woman to become pregnant. At this age she is fully-grown and sufficiently mature enough to cope with having a baby, being supple and flexible enough, with plenty of energy.
Until recently a woman over 30 having her first baby was referred to as an "elderly primigravida". However, more and more women are choosing to start their families later in life and feel no desperate rush to do so until well into their thirties. Apart from physical factors, older mothers often feel more settled and more ready in themselves to have a baby. This is possibly due to already having had career and leisure opportunities, so they may be more ready and willing than their younger counterparts to make the necessary sacrifices that having a baby inevitably means. Increasing maturity also means they are perhaps better able to cope with the emotional and financial aspects involved too.
Whatever you are seeking, whether it's researching health information or you simply want reassurance, hopefully you will find what you are looking for here. Or perhaps you just want to share your thoughts with other other older mums? Undoubtedly, there's someone, somewhere, who is experiencing the same things as you ...
