Fertility After 35: What Your OB/GYN Wants You to Know

Actress Anne Hathaway is grabbing the spotlight this summer for a much larger reason than her part in this year's blockbuster movie The Odyssey. It’s the fact that she’s pregnant with her third child at age 43 that has grabbed many people’s attention.

The reality is that Hathaway is far from alone in having children later in life — the average birth age in the United States has jumped to 27.5 for first-time mothers, and there’s been a 25% increase in mothers aged 35 and older between 2016 and 2023.

To shed some light on fertility after 35, we turn to the team of board-certified women’s health experts at North Atlanta OB/GYN. Our team has helped many women successfully navigate fertility, family building, and pregnancy in their 30s and 40s, and here’s what we want you to know from our experience. 

A matter of egg quantity

There are several reasons why age is considered to be one of the most influential fertility factors. Let’s first look at the biggest challenge with advanced maternal age — egg quantity. When you exit the womb, you already carry a finite number of eggs — researchers estimate between 1 million and 2 million. 

After puberty, you begin to release these eggs through your menstrual cycles. Between your late teens and late 20s, your fertility is at its strongest thanks to higher counts of viable eggs. Once you turn 30, egg counts start to decline, and they decline rapidly after the age of 35.

As a result, during the 20s and 30s age ranges, about 1 in 4 women get pregnant during any single menstrual cycle, and this number drops to 1 in 10 after the age of 40.

A matter of egg quality

As you age, not only does your egg quantity decline, but their quality also declines. The reality is that as egg counts dwindle, remaining eggs are more likely to become less viable and carry more risks for abnormal chromosomes.

A matter of reproductive health

Another reason why women face more fertility issues as they get older is that gynecologic issues can take hold and interfere. Some of the biggest culprits in this regard are endometriosis and uterine fibroids. 

Each of these conditions affects millions of women in the United States, and they’re known for getting progressively worse as you journey through your reproductive years. As a result, many women with problematic fibroids or endometriosis find that fertility becomes increasingly more difficult.

A more optimistic view of fertility after 35

Our goal is to explain why fertility is more challenging after the age of 35 — it is not to discourage you from later-in-life family building. 

While fertility is more challenging, it’s far from impossible, and we’ve helped scores of women to build happy, healthy families in their 30s and 40s.

The best way to determine what challenges might lie ahead if you want to have children in your late 30s or 40s is to come in for a fertility evaluation.

You can schedule a visit by phone or online today at one of our conveniently located offices in Atlanta, Alpharetta, or Marietta, Georgia.