Can I have a second child at an advanced age? With the country’s liberalization of the two-child policy, there must be a lot of older women who have to consider the issue of having another child, as opposed to younger women, older women may face different problems. In response to your concerns, dedicate this popular science article. How old is too old to have a baby? There is no absolute age at which you cannot have children, of course, the younger you are, the greater your chances of having children. From a physiological point of view, the optimal age for a woman to have children is between 20 and 25 years old. During this period, women’s reproductive function is at its best and their bodies are fully developed and at their peak. Before the age of 20, the psychological impact of pregnancy is more obvious than the physiological, and from the age of 30, women’s fertility begins to decline, from the initial decline trend is relatively gentle to the trend after the age of 35 is obvious, after the age of 40, women’s fertility has been significantly reduced, but at this time is not the same as zero, think of the old days when a family had to give birth to a number of children, the birth of the mother’s age of 40 or more is a very common thing at the end of the old age. It’s very common for mothers to be over 40 at the end of their lives. So age is not an absolute issue, it is possible if you want it to be. One study showed that women older than 30 who wanted to have children had a 75% rate of getting pregnant within one year; by age 35, the figure dropped to 66%; by age 40, the rate was only 44%; and by age 45, it had become very difficult to get pregnant. What are the different tests that need to be done in advance? If you are usually in good health, there is no need to do any special tests before pregnancy; a normal physical examination to understand the general state of your body is sufficient. Of course, since the function of the ovaries declines at an older age, regular menstruation does not necessarily mean that ovulation occurs. If you want to know the reserve function of the ovaries before pregnancy, you can also go to the hospital through some hormone level test, at present can measure the fertility of women’s test indicators are inhibin B, anti-mullerian factor (AMH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), the first two hospitals carried out is not rare, the third indicator of the general obstetrics and gynecology hospitals can be carried out the corresponding test. The third indicator is usually available at obstetrics and gynecology hospitals. If there have not been more than 3 early miscarriages (also known as habitual miscarriages), there is generally no need for special testing for men. If there are more than 3 miscarriages, men should consider doing a chromosomal test to see if there are any chromosomal abnormalities. What if I have other medical conditions? If you have other diseases before pregnancy, you should seek medical advice before pregnancy, some diseases, such as thyroid disease, diabetes, heart disease, etc., need to be adjusted accordingly before pregnancy, if the disease is not controlled under the condition of hasty pregnancy, the chances of a variety of complications during pregnancy and the chances of deformity will increase. Therefore, if you have some co-morbidities before pregnancy, you need to be counseled. What if there are deformities or abnormalities in the first child? It is also necessary to seek professional help from a doctor to find out the cause of the deformity. Some problems can be avoided by trying to conceive again, but if there is a genetic abnormality of its own, it is necessary to use prenatal diagnostic methods to screen and eliminate the problematic embryos. How long does it take to get pregnant after I am off birth control? This depends on the type of contraception used. In the case of oral contraceptives, it used to be emphasized that it was necessary to wait 3 months before conceiving, but in recent years, research evidence has confirmed that this is not necessary and that it is possible to get pregnant the following month after stopping oral contraceptives. If you are using an intrauterine device (IUD), you can try to get pregnant after your next menstrual period after the IUD is removed. What if I can’t get pregnant after trying for a while? As mentioned earlier, the older you get, the less fertile you are. If you are still infertile after trying for a while, you will need to ask your doctor for help if necessary. Generally speaking, your doctor will conduct the necessary tests after you have tried to conceive for a year without success, and of course, ultrasound, ovulation monitoring, and sperm test for males are non-invasive tests that can be done in advance. If a woman is too old and has lost her ovulation function, there is still a way to use other people’s eggs, which are fertilized outside the body and then transplanted back into the body, but at this point, biologically speaking, the child’s genes are no longer inherited from you. What are the different risks faced by people of advanced age during pregnancy? The older a woman is, the poorer the quality of her egg cells and the greater the likelihood that she will carry abnormal chromosomes after fertilization. Once a woman reaches her mid-30s, her risk of having a child with a congenital malformation increases. A congenital abnormality is a dysfunction or disorder that is present at birth. In most cases, this is due to an excessive number or absence of specific chromosomes. Trisomy occurs when there are 3 of the same chromosome instead of the normal 2. The most common is Down syndrome, or trisomy 21, such that the patient has three chromosome 21s. The table below shows the relationship between age and the occurrence of Down syndrome. For older pregnant women, in order to rule out the possibility of having a child with Down syndrome, blood can be drawn for screening during early pregnancy, and fetal ultrasound can also be performed at 11 weeks of pregnancy to screen for the latest non-invasive fetal DNA technology developed over the last few years, which is not a substitute for amniocentesis, but has been able to help doctors determine the presence of fetal chromosomal abnormalities to a large extent. Although it is not a substitute for amniocentesis culture, it can help doctors to determine whether there is a fetal chromosomal abnormality to a large extent. At the same time, studies have shown that if both the man and the woman are older than 35, the man’s age also affects these risks and increases the chances that the fetus will suffer from certain congenital defects, and that the most common cause of miscarriage is a severe defect in the fetus, which is more frequent in women older than 35 years of age. Therefore, the chances of miscarriage increase when the couple is older than when they are younger. According to statistics, there is a 15% chance of miscarriage during early pregnancy. What are the precautions during pregnancy? There are some pregnancy comorbidities such as gestational diabetes and gestational hypertension that are increased compared to younger pregnancies, which means that more rigorous prenatal testing is needed during pregnancy. If there were comorbidities in the previous pregnancy, there is also a risk of recurrence in the current pregnancy, all of which require professional medical advice. But still, we should be alert to a phenomenon, the Chinese people during pregnancy to pay excessive attention to the common, because pregnant, they are afraid to exercise, eat and drink more, pregnancy we should now be alert to over-nutrition, the child is too big, not good for labor and delivery. Do I have to have a cesarean section to have a baby when I am older? Age is not an absolute indication for cesarean section, as long as there are conditions you can try to have a natural delivery, but weight management during pregnancy is very important, avoiding over-nutrition and moderate exercise is the key. I had a cesarean section last time, can I still give birth on my own this time? If the previous pregnancy was a cesarean section, is it always necessary to have a cesarean section? If the previous cesarean section was some irremovable factor in this pregnancy, such as pelvic abnormality, then another cesarean section is needed, otherwise it is also possible to try VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean section) but whether it is suitable or not needs professional assessment by your doctor.