If you are trying to get pregnant, you might like to know a little more about eggs.
Most people are aware that it takes an egg from a female in order for conception to occur, but many of us are a little vague about the details.
How Many Eggs do You Have?
At birth, females have approximately 1 million eggs. But, by the time a women reaches puberty, her reserve supply of eggs has dwindled by about 50%.
Each and every month thereafter, until menopause intercedes, a woman will lose approximately 750 eggs.
Even while a woman is still in her twenties, not only have her eggs decreased in quantity, but the quality begins to deteriorate, as well. After a woman reaches the age of 35, the eggs start to diminish in quality quite rapidly.
So, as time marches on, a woman will gradually have more difficulty conceiving, and finally be unable to conceive at all due to the age of her eggs.
Based on research by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, once a woman reaches the age of 40, she has only approximately a 5% chance or less of becoming pregnant naturally in any one month.
Additionally, the grim reality is that the risk of chromosomal abnormalities such as Down’s Syndrome increases along with the age of the woman’s eggs.
For instance, a 40 year old woman has about one chance in 66 of having a child with chromosomal abnormalities, compared to one chance in 385 at age 30. The risk of Down’s Syndrome, especially, increases with the age of the mother—in other words, the age of the eggs.
For a 20 year old mother, the chance of having a baby with Down’s Syndrome is only about 1 in 1,000. But, for a 40 year old mother, that risk increases to approximately 1 in 100, according to the CDC.
So, to sum it all up, a successful live birth is more contingent on the age of the eggs, not the age of the mother.
If you are planning to start a family, it is better to do so while you are under the age of 35, if at all possible!
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