Last baby age

[RainbowRiver]

I know everyone has different ideas on age, but what age did you or will you, stop having kids?

I never dreamed of being an older mum and was in my head that baby making would stop at 30. DH is 2 years older then me and would like another 1, if not 2 children.

Just can't get my head around being older then 30 and going through pregnancy again, but I'm not complete on the baby front either

[Floweryfields]

I'll give you the perspective of a 38 year old who hasn't even had her chance at having a baby yet. Had it worked out how I thought or planned, then I would have never thought I'd consider having a child at this age, but given the chance I will jump at it.
If you went back say 50 or 60 years, women would still have babies well into their 30s and 40s because there was not a whole lot you could do to prevent it. I guess it's more that it's not the done thing now that makes us think we are too old.

And for what it's worth, I don't think 30 is being an older mum. 38 yes, but 30 no.

[Jaycee]

See, I look at 30 still being quite young, well very young actually. A lot of people don't even consider children until they hit 35ish. I had my children by the time I was 30 and with my first, I was 26 and would have been one of the younger ones in the maternity ward

[ladybirdflies]

I considered after 30 you stilll have at least 12 good baby years ahead of you!! My cut off has always been 42!! (and woohooo for you just quietly!)

[RainbowRiver]

My mum was 34 when she had me, and I thought to myself 'wow, that's old to be having kids still'. On the flip side, I was told 24 was to young to be having kids. Most of my friends are in their early 30's and only a few have kids (aged 3 and under), but most have no urge to start for a couple more years.

Its interesting how others think and lead their lives.. For me personally, given my position (having 4 kids already), I can't see myself having kids after 35 as I'd feel way to old later in life when my kids are older.


LBF - thank you

[Trillian]

Menopause is the cut off for me for the *right* age for a woman to have a baby. Personally, I wanted to be done by 30 but not because I think being over 30 is too old. My last baby was born when I was 29. DH and I didn't get to do much travel or anything like that before we started having kids so we wanted to have them quickly so that by the time they are out of home we're still *young enough* to travel. But that's just the way my life worked out. I think our perspective is arbitrary based on where we are at in any given point of our lives.

[CoNNiE_Melb]

See, I look at 30 still being quite young, well very young actually. A lot of people don't even consider children until they hit 35ish. I had my children by the time I was 30 and with my first, I was 26 and would have been one of the younger ones in the maternity ward

I could have written this myself.
I am 30 and am now done, I had my first at 26 and felt like a baby at mothers group - the next youngest mum was 32.

All of our friends are 29-32 years old and only 1 other couple has a child. The rest are getting engaged and married, and not even thinking about kids yet.

When I was younger, I thought 30 was old, now that I'm 30, my thoughts have changed. I think there's no magic number. If getting pregnant was as easy as clicking your fingers, then things would be very different, but it's not, so many factors come in to play.
I was just blessed to find the right man and have 2 healthy babies before 30, doesn't mean that works for others.

[Teeki]

My Mum had me when she was 21 and my brother when she was 24, all her friends had kids at a similar age. Then when one of her newer friends had her first child at 30, Mum was all "oh my gosh I could never have kids that late, she'll be nearly 50 when this one leaves home and what about if they have more?" So from a young age I thought having kids at 30 or more was very late.

But then I got to my 20s, and life goes by so quickly! There's studying, building a career, travel, buying property - all those things you might want to do, and you've gotta find the right guy, get married if you want, be together long enough to know you want kids together. Suddenly kids at 30 makes perfect sense!

For me, I met DH when I was 21. We knew pretty early on that this was it. We knew we wanted marriage and kids, and I said I'd like kids before 30, because I could, and I figured I'd like to be younger with my kids and do traveling or whatever after. So I had my first when I was 26, my second when I was 28.

Most of my friends - my good friends from uni - don't have kids. One just got married and turned 30, one is engaged and the third is more into travel. I don't think they're waiting too long, I just think they have different priorities than me, they've traveled and preferred to be able to spend their weekends going out all night whereas I've preferred staying home and my traveling is camping.

[peanutter]

I wanted to have all my kids by 30, which I did - but if I hadn't finished (and hey, never say never) I'm not sure whether I'd set myself a "cut off" date.

[Mum2SweetCs]

Thought i would have finished having kids (3) by 35. Doesnt look like this is going to happen as we had issues ttc bub 2.

By the look of things we might need to stop at 2 kids.

I, myself feel old (35 soon) and feel like i dont have the energy to go through the first baby years again. Dd2 still doesnt sleep through and is still being bfd!!

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I wanted 30, would have been ok with 32-33. Wanted children settled down before I retire early. 39 is my cut off, as I don't want Liebs finishing school when Stormy starts.

Looks increasingly like 25 for me though. Ah well, 5 more years of hoping left.

[~Hestia~]

I had my first at 27 and my second at 30. My second was my last but not because of my age.

[*Jessica*]

I had my first at 25, second at 27, and now pregnant with my third at 35.

[*Jessica*]

And I must admit this pregnancy has felt like hard work from the very start. I remember loving pregnancy the first two times...

[Mumma T]

If you asked me when I was 21 I was going to have my first at 26 & last at 28-29.

The reality is I didn't meet DH til I was 32 and TTC took much longer than expected. Had my first at 35 and will have my second and last at 38 in 17ish weeks. Only 9 years off what I had planned at 21 Haahaa

[PumpkinZulu]

For me, 30 is when I want to be done. We had a family young for that exact reason, I want to be having babies in my biological prime, and DH and I want to travel in our 40's when we can really afford to enjoy it

[Nai]

For a variety of reasons - one was that I never actually wanted kids until much later when I changed my mind - I had DD1 when I was 34 and DD2 when I was 37. I've never felt old and had pretty boring pregnancies - no morning sickness, no SPD, no GD, no high BP. I think you deal with what you get and whatever age you are at you don't tend to feel that it is old. I still don't feel old

[MummyNaomi]

For a variety of reasons - one was that I never actually wanted kids until much later when I changed my mind - I had DD1 when I was 34 and DD2 when I was 37. I've never felt old and had pretty boring pregnancies - no morning sickness, no SPD, no GD, no high BP. I think you deal with what you get and whatever age you are at you don't tend to feel that it is old. I still don't feel old

It must be a Naomi thing - I had DS at 34 and DD at 37. Also didn't feel old or find the pregnancies hard (conceiving, well that was another story)
I meet DH when I was 31, so wasn't with anyone I wanted to have children with prior to my 30s, so that really drove the age rather than any other factors