The oldest recorded mother to date to conceive was 73 years. According to statistics from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, in the UK more than 20 babies are born to women over age 50 per year through in-vitro fertilization with the use of donor oocytes (eggs).
A woman's peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline happens faster once you reach your mid-30s. By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely.
While it's not impossible to become pregnant naturally at 50, it is very rare. Women are born with all of the eggs they will ever have. As you get older, you have fewer eggs, and they are more likely to have abnormalities. Most women who get pregnant after 50 use donor eggs.
While stories about women giving birth in their 50s, 60s, and even 70s make for good headlines, these pregnancies are usually accomplished with donor eggs and in vitro fertilization (IVF). There is no set oldest age when you can get pregnant naturally, but fertility starts to decline as you age.
Pregnancy after age 45 years is infrequent and the mother and baby should be considered as a high risk. There is a greater incidence of spontaneous abortion, gestational trophoblastic disease and chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus.
Beyond age 45, there are even more health risks. A recent study that looked at almost 37 million deliveries between 2006 and 2015 showed that women aged 45-54 years have the highest rates of preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, postpartum hemorrhage, and hysterectomy—as well as c-section deliveries.
Once you reach 45, your fertility will usually be so low that a natural pregnancy is unlikely for most people. But some people may still have a “menopause baby.” This refers to a pregnancy and delivery that happens when you're in perimenopause, the transition into menopause.
Xinju Tian, who was 67 years old when she gave birth in 2023, set a new record for the oldest woman to give birth naturally.
There's no maximum age that stops a man from being able to have a baby. You can become a father long into your older years, but there are risks.
“It's exceptionally rare for patients to get pregnant naturally at 50 or over 45. They make history,” said Dr. David Keefe, an obstetrician-gynecologist and fertility researcher at New York University. In part that's because around age 50, many women are entering menopause, after which egg harvesting isn't possible.
So as you get older, you have fewer and fewer eggs, and the eggs you have aren't easily fertilized by a man's sperm. All this makes it harder for you to get pregnant. If you're older than 35 and have been trying for 6 months to get pregnant, tell your health care provider.
Geriatric pregnancy is a rarely used term for having a baby when you're 35 or older. Rest assured, most healthy women who get pregnant after age 35 and even into their 40s have healthy babies.
Pregnancy in your 40s is potentially more complicated. The healthier you are at the beginning, the less likely you are to experience complications. But even healthy women can have complications in pregnancy. Women in their 40s also have a higher chance of having multiples, such as twins or triplets.
Male fertility generally starts to reduce around age 40 to 45 years when sperm quality decreases. Increasing male age reduces the overall chances of pregnancy and increases time to pregnancy (the number of menstrual cycles it takes to become pregnant) and the risk of miscarriage and fetal death.
Peak male fertility is around 25-29 years old. Sperm quality begins to decline at 30. At 45, men begin to experience a significant decrease in semen volume. Older men can also take longer to conceive a child.
There's no way to prevent Down syndrome. If you're at high risk of having a child with Down syndrome or you already have one child with Down syndrome, you may want to consult a genetic counselor before becoming pregnant. A genetic counselor can help you understand your chances of having a child with Down syndrome.
Story highlights. Doctors in the small Chilean town of La Boca have found a calcified fetus in the uterus of an elderly woman who says she never realized she got pregnant. Estela Meléndez, 91, says she has had a lump on her belly for many years, but had no idea that she was carrying a fetus.
While a 92-year-old woman delivering a 60-year-old baby may sound like a bizarre plot twist from the movie “Benjamin Button,” it's true. Huang Yijun, 92, of southern China, recently delivered a child which she'd been carrying for well over half a century. The baby wasn't alive, however.
One study estimated a woman can have around 15 pregnancies in a lifetime. And depending on how many babies she births for each pregnancy, she'd probably have around 15-30 children.
While delivering at age 35 and older is officially considered “advanced maternal age,” Dr. Kalish notes that in reality, there's no “magic number” for being at-risk for complications. “A healthy 38-year-old could have an easier pregnancy than a 20-year-old who has multiple medical issues,” Dr.
According to Guinness World Records, the oldest father who had the documentation to prove it was Australian Les Colley, who in 1991 fathered a son with his third wife when he was 92. Here are some other notable men who had their mojos working well into their golden years.
The website of the world record authority Guinness World Records lists the oldest father ever as Australian Les Colley (1898-1998), who allegedly fathered his ninth child at age 92 with a Fijian woman he met through a dating agency.
It is true that fertility does decline with age, but many women conceive naturally aged over 40 and go on to have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
After age 30, a woman's fertility decreases every year. The number and quality of her eggs goes down until she reaches menopause. Menopause usually happens around age 45 to 55. During that time, women stop having their periods and are no longer fertile.