Each woman finds her own solution but we cannot kid ourselves having children at 35 is easy. It is not. It goes wrong for lots of people. |
epidemic of pregnancy in middle age. |
I look at my own consultants' body, and largely men have children when their wives are in their 20s and early 30s, and largely women have children in their 30s and 40s. |
If you want a family - and most people want a couple of children - and you are going to complete your childbearing by 35 and leave time for recovery in between, you would be wise to start before 30. |
It is us in the clinic who see the heartbreak, and we cannot help these people when they are running out of time. That is what motivated me to write [the report] and ask the authorities what can be done to help women to do it at a time that suits them. |
There is a sense that we are healthier than we have ever been and it's OK to wait, but as obstetricians we see people falling off the cliff and it saddens me. |
You cannot suddenly emerge at 45 and say, 'Now I want children'. I appreciate we want it all and some will get it. But there is a window for reproduction where there isn't for work. |