I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying:
A woman should get pregnant before it’s too late,
It’s hard to get pregnant when you’re older.
So what’s so hard about older women getting pregnant?
Taking into account women’s ovarian function, we took age > A 35-year-old woman is defined as a very old woman, and 40 is the age threshold for reproductive medicine. Forty-five is super old.
There are two main reasons why elderly women have difficulty getting pregnant:
A, ovarian, uterine function decline, egg quality decline, difficult to conceive!
With age, the human body’s various functions become weaker, and the ovaries are no exception. Women from the age of 30, ovarian function begins to decline. Decreased ovarian function leads to decreased uterine function, decreased egg quality, fertilized egg is not easy to implant, resulting in a decreased pregnancy rate.
Therefore, the average woman after the age of 35, fertility will decline. For women over 40, infertility rates are more than 50 percent. The older you get, the less likely you are to have a successful pregnancy.
Two, with all kinds of pregnancy complications after pregnancy, pregnancy is difficult!
The risk of spontaneous abortion increases as women get older, and pregnancy and live birth rates begin to decline significantly.
Elderly women are at increased risk of various pregnancy complications, such as chronic hypertension, diabetes with pregnancy, gestational diabetes and gestational hypertension.
At the same time, the risk of newborn birth defects, such as Down syndrome and pediatric cerebral palsy, also increases with the age of childbirth.
So, can’t older women get pregnant?
Of course not.
Although older women are less fertile, they can conceive naturally as long as there are no problems with pre-pregnancy and general physical check-ups.
Even if some women are unable to conceive naturally, they can get pregnant through artificial insemination, test-tube baby and other human assisted reproductive technologies.
As fertility declines, older women who want to get pregnant need to prepare for:
Assess fertility
The main purpose of fertility assessment is to assess the likelihood of natural pregnancy in older women. It is necessary to assess ovarian reserve function, the condition of uterus and fallopian tubes, and the likelihood of systemic diseases.
Before preparing
If there are no problems with fertility assessments, then older women who are planning a pregnancy should start preparing for it. The main content of pre-pregnancy preparation includes:
1) Pre-pregnancy examination, that is, abnormalities are found and treated in time before pregnancy to avoid potential problems;
2) Change unhealthy living habits and lifestyle, including smoking and alcohol, staying away from drugs, avoiding strong tea and coffee, avoiding staying up late, ensuring adequate sleep and regular schedule, and maintaining mental health, etc.;
3) Reasonable diet, that is, to ensure a balanced diet, good nutrition reserve;
4) Supplementation of folic acid, the older the woman, the more likely to occur fetal nervous system development abnormalities, the need to start oral folic acid in the first 3 months of pregnancy, pregnancy after 3 months should also continue oral folic acid;
5) Control body weight. Overweight or underweight will affect pregnancy. Underweight will cause insufficient secretion of pituitary hormone and reduce ovum production. Obesity not only disrupts hormone production, affecting ovulation and reducing the chances of conception;
6) Reasonable exercise, women insist on exercise can improve egg quality, but need to choose some less intense exercise, such as jogging, fast walking, swimming, yoga, etc..
In conclusion, it is true that older women have a harder time getting pregnant than other women, but as long as they make adequate preparations, older women can still get pregnant.