The Sooner Marriage, the Better: 88% of Women's Eggs Gone by 30

Life Site News ^ | Monday February 1, 2010 | James Tillman

[GonzoII]

Monday February 1, 2010

---

The Sooner Marriage, the Better: 88% of Women's Eggs Gone by 30

by James Tillman

Monday, February 1, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- A new study from the Universities of St. Andrews and of Edinburgh is offering a more accurate understanding of fertility and its decline with age, which researchers say is steeper than previously thought.

The study, which involved about 325 women of different ages from the United States and Europe, investigated the number of eggs that remain in the ovaries over time.  This number, said the researchers, peaks at about 20 weeks after conception and subsequently drops until no eggs are left at menopause.

At the age of 30 years, only 12% of the maximum ovarian reserve - the number of eggs with which women are born - is typically present; by 40, only 3% remains.

The average egg quality also decreases with age, which increases the difficulty of conception and the chances of an unhealthy baby.

"Women lose eggs a lot faster than we thought," said Good Morning America medical contributor Dr. Marie Savard. 

She pointed out that women need to hear that the biological clock runs fairly quickly, and that the chances of having children are jeopardized the longer one waits. 

Savard also pointed out other factors that can help fertility from decreasing, such as not smoking, keeping down body weight, and controlling stress.

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10020113.html

---

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.

[Woebama]

Young women get pregnant if they get anywhere near a spermatazoa. Women at 40 often spends tens of thousands of dollars and still have difficulty having a child. Take heed young women.

And remember Sarah older women, and take heart, if God wills it, it is done!

[Palladin]

Interesting. But I’d like more evidence.

All the women in my family had babies when they were in their forties.

One aunt was 47, and had just sent her “last” child off to college, when she conceived and had another (very healthy) son.

The info in this article could be misused to pressure women over forty into having abortions.

[sickoflibs]

The exception to the rule will be the good looking girlfriend you DON’T want to have kids with. A real bad day goes like this : “Good news. You get to pay me child support”

[wagglebee]

Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee or DirtyHarryY2K to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]

[PhilCollins]

I’m 42, and my wife is 41. We got married last Aug., and we want to conceive. I hope that we can, if we keep trying.

[traderrob6]

Maybe but we went for 11 years with no kids and at 42 my wife up and has twins, go figure.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I’m confused. There’s only supposed to be one egg a month. That’s 13 a year, or about 500 or so in a lifetime. What difference does it make how many eggs are sitting around?

And over time, I’d expect there to be fewer eggs left. If the first egg is releaased at age 12, and the last egg is released at age 45, that means 33 years of eggs, and 88% of those eggs would have been gone by age 41 anyway.

Is the study saying that as you get in your late 30s, you have months when no egg presents itself, because you are running out of them? I just don’t get it.

[Palladin]

If you’re both in reasonably good health, there should be no problem.

Good luck,and have fun trying!

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Is more really better? After all it only takes one to have a baby. It could be possible that a woman's body is simply getting rid of unneeded ova.

Most women produce a single ovum per month from menses to menapause, over a period of at most 40 years. A woman really only needs about 500 ova yet starts with several million.

[Palladin]

A double blessing! You are very lucky.

[Nea Wood]

One aunt was 47, and had just sent her “last” child off to college, when she conceived and had another (very healthy) son.

Wow. I think that's the oldest I've ever heard of a woman conceiving naturally, except for a Seattle woman a few years ago who had a baby in her early 50s, and that was so unusual it made the newspapers.

[Palladin]

I think the study is bogus.

325 women is a very small sampling.

[babygene]

“I hope that we can, if we keep trying.”

Trying is 100% of the fun...

[Palladin]

She holds the record in our family.

[Balding_Eagle]

The article infers that the eggs are simply “lost”, beginning at the 20th week, while the female still in the womb.

I’m not sure I believe them.

[SnakeDoctor]

I hope that this is true.

I’ve got 2 kids (with my wife ... its kinda sad that I need to say that outright), and broke through 2 different birth control methods to get them. It would be good if we were through 80% of her eggs ... not sure I need another rugrat (I kid ... I love them to death).

If a third birth control fails ... our next birth control method may have to be kryptonite.

SnakeDoc

[PGR88]

The info in this article could be misused to pressure women over forty into having abortions.

---

I think it says the opposite - to me it says (to both men and women), don’t buy into the “you can wait” and feminist nonsense, because you do NOT have as much time as you would like.

My view is certainly not a scientific sampling, but all abortions I have heard of seem to have been done by women in their twenties (or even teens). By 40 years old, all the women I know without children are desperate to have kids.

In my view, the lies of abortion are mainly sold to the young and scared.

[chris_bdba]

It isn’t always one egg at a time! You do realize that multiples are not always identical, right?

[library user]

Phil Collins wrote...

We got married last Aug., and we want to conceive. I hope that we can, if we keep trying.

It's in the air tonight.

And it's just a job to do.

There must be no misunderstanding.

That's all.

Sorry, too easy to resist. :)

[PhilCollins]

I’m glad that I like Phil Collins’ music. My favorite song of his is “Easy Lover,” and that might help, in this task.

[US Navy Vet]

Trying is fun too :-)!

[A_perfect_lady]

What’s more, after you’re 40 it’s pretty hard to get used to married life. I used to think people should wait. Now I say “Jump right in, your chances are no worse at 20 than at 40.”

[A_perfect_lady]

My grandma was 46 when she had my mom.

[pogo101]

I don’t doubt the science, but it’d the darndest juxtaposition:

1. Folks are most fertile at 15-19; yet
2. How many folks that age are emotionally mature enough for parenthood?

It’s a pity we don’t peak at 25 8)

[JenB987]

I’m always hoping the old wives tale of multiple births skipping a generation comes true, only I hope it’s the first pregnancy and not the last...

My dad is a triplet, conceived when my grandmother was 36. He has an older brother 5 years older than him.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Yes, but they are not the “norm”. It’s not like a younger woman has a better chance of getting pregnant because she releases a dozen eggs a month, and later they are almost all gone so she only releases one a month.

So I don’t understand how the number of eggs left in her ovaries can effect the ability to get pregnant in any particular month.

[TSgt]

My wife and I have been trying since September to start a family. She is 32 and I’m 33. We are both in great health but we realize it’s God’s decision not ours.

[chrisser]

I’m 42, and my wife is 41. We got married last Aug., and we want to conceive. I hope that we can, if we keep trying.

You're not alone. We've been trying for a little over two years and I'm the same age as you (although my wife's a few years younger than yours).

It's fun trying, but it sure would be great to succeed while I'm young enough to expect to live to see the kids graduate from high school.

[Jack Hydrazine]

So that’s why women’s chances of getting married start declining at age 25 and really go downhill after 30!

I’m 39 and I’ve never been married but would like to. Think I’ll start my search in the age 18 demographic because I do want to have children.

[Jack Hydrazine]

“In my view, the lies of abortion are mainly sold to the young and scared.”

You forgot about the lie that they need to be “the man” out there working instead of being at home with children.

[Buckeye McFrog]

And remember Sarah older women, and take heart, if God wills it, it is done!

We talkin’ Sarah of the Old Testament or Sarah of Wasilla? :)

[chrisser]

If any FReepers have some proven conception advice, this’d be a good thread to post it ;)

[Verginius Rufus]

My grandmother and her twin brother were not identical twins.

[Woebama]

We talkin’ Sarah of the Old Testament or Sarah of Wasilla? :)
_________________________________________________

Heh!

[Woebama]

Yah, we broke through birth control as well for a child!

[ArrogantBustard]

Well ...

It helps to take all your clothes off.

[Woebama]

What’s more, after you’re 40 it’s pretty hard to get used to married life. I used to think people should wait. Now I say “Jump right in, your chances are no worse at 20 than at 40.”
____________________________________________________________

Yuppers. I was older when I married and had children and it’s hokem that you are more prepared when you are older. Having a child changes everything, and it doesn’t matter if you are 40 or 20 . . .

[married21]

We used natural family planning to “space” our children. Now I think, if we hadn’t known, through that method, when I was fertile, we probably wouldn’t have conceived naturally. We would have faced the age-related declining ovaries and the missed timing. I had them at age 36 and 38. I was told at 44 that it was way too late and I should give up on any more.

I recommend learning exactly what your body is doing.

Good luck! I’m sure some little soul somewhere is going to be your baby.

---

also, to somebody else who was talking about someone conceiving in their 40s, we know a couple of people who conceived naturally at 50. But you need to come from long-lived stock, it seems.

[chrisser]

It helps to take all your clothes off.

Now ya tell me...

[PapaBear3625]

link to the actual paper

[fightinJAG]

This was the dirty little secret no one told the first generation of women to be urged en masse to “have a career first.” They basically thought they could have a baby any time they wanted and that there was no risk at all in putting pregnancy off.

Another thing not contemplated: some people do mull over what it’s going to be like to be an older mother (in mid- or late 30’s when baby is born), but I can guarantee nothing quite prepares someone for being that parent of a young teen when you are over 50 years old yourself. (Perhaps this is different for people who have already raised a bunch of kids and who still have teenagers when they reach their 50’s.)

[chris_bdba]

Number of eggs=more chances to acheive pregnancy. More eggs released at a time makes it more likely. We have no idea how many eggs every women can release each month when more than one doesn’t fertilize. I don’t think we know why fertility drops as we get older but it probably does have something to do with the quality of eggs, who knows the body might be rejecting it because of some abnormality?

[Cowgirl]

I’ve had one birth child at age 46. I went to the Dr. and he gave me about a four month supply of Clomid. I conceived six months later. I have a fine son who is 16 now. I also have an adopted son and three stepsons. It keeps you young and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. I loved being pregnant and only gained l7 pounds.
I didn’t diet but my doctor said to walk three miles a day which I did faithfully. Pay special attention to the last month, be sure to go to the doctor every week at that time as if things are going to happen it will be at that time.

[annelizly]

that is how i view it also.

I think that it is telling women to get married younger and have children right away. Which means as a society we need to quit telling our daughters to get educations, careers and THEN married and children. which also means that we will have to encourage young weddings, encourage children before they have tons of money and this is NOT what our society has been championing.

[iowamark]

A woman will only ovulate a few hundred times in her life. She will certainly never run out of eggs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/13/health/studies-aim-to-preserve-fertility-of-women-in-chemotherapy.html?sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=all
“”A woman’s egg supply peaks before she herself is born, with at least 7 million eggs packed into the fetal ovary. By birth the number dwindles to a million, and then drops to 300,000 by puberty””