Older moms much more likely to become old ladies, study says.

[elleng]

Atention, women who were declared to be of "advanced maternal age" even as their bellies swelled with life, who chased after a toddler with more patience than vigor, and who have simultaneously navigated menopause and parented an adolescent: Late-life mothering -- if it occurred naturally at least -- doubles your odds of living to an unusually old age, according to a new study.

Compared with a woman who wrapped up her childbearing by the age of 29, a woman whose last child was born after she reached the age of 33 was roughly twice as likely to survive long enough to outlive 95% of her female peers born in the same year. Women who bore their last child between the ages of 33 and 37 had the best shot at becoming a longevity champion. They were 2.08 times as likely to live to an exceptional age as moms who had no more children after 29. Women whose last child came after the age of 37 were 1.92 times as likely to live so long.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-older-moms-much-more-likely-to-become-old-ladies-20140625-story.html

GOOD news for me 'cause I was '39 when first daughter born. But not so 'good' for my daughters, as first born had her first @ age 28, and my 2nd born is due at 26, in 3 weeks!!!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Interesting.

My grandmother had my mother in 1920 at the age of 38, and my aunt in 1924 at 42. She lived to be 98. Anecdotal evidence, of course.

[MADem]

2. Most of the women I know in their nineties have kids in their fifties and sixties! nt

[JI7]

3. this may have to do with income and financial stability also

as many women who have kids later in life tend to plan it out that way because they want to focus on their own lives and career so by the time they decide to have kids they are more comfortable and financially secure.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. My grandmother was 36 when she gave birth and she lived til 93

36 must have been old for that era?

[SheilaT]

5. Interesting. As someone who gave birth at

the "advanced" ages of 34 and 38, I like that research.

Again, this is anecdotal, but my older (by 18 months) sister had both her her children by the time she was 19. She has had various health issues over the years -- and was also a smoker for more than 50 years, which certainly hasn't helped. She's still alive and doing quite well, everything considered, but I bet I outlive her by several decades.

I have made plans to see a total eclipse of the sun in 2045, about a week after my 97th birthday. What I'm finding most interesting about this is that ever since I discovered that eclipse and decided I want to see it, my sense of my future has vastly expanded.

In 1976 I and my husband were both living in the Washington, DC area, although we had not yet met. We both were on the Mall on July 4 that year. I've also told my two sons they need to plan to go to Washington DC on July 4, 2076, our Tricentennial. They will be 93 and 89 respectively, and should still be alive then. I want them to be there that day and tell every single person they meet that their parents were there 100 years earlier. How cool would that be.

[elleng]

7. That would be VERY cool, SheilaT!

Tell them to go to The Mall for 4th of July Fireworks WHENEVER THEY CAN! We used to go every year, and I'm very sad we're not all together anymore to be able to do it again! Its the BEST!

2045 would make me 100 so I might not make the eclipse, though not sure, Dad passed @ 98.

[SheilaT]

9. July 4, 1976 was amazing.

I decided a couple of weeks before that I was definitely going to head down to the Mall after I got off work that day at the airport, about 4pm. There was all kinds of nonsense about how there was going to be violence and riots, and initially my older brother, who also lived in the DC area, was scornful of the very idea of going there that day. In the end, he, his wife, and their two kids went much earlier in the day. We rendezvoused at the Washington Monument. I got there about thirty minutes before the Park Police shut off that part of the Mall to anyone new coming in.

When the fireworks ended, I started walking back to Alexandria, Va, where I lived. For at least forty-five minutes no vehicular traffic moved because so many thousands of people were walking. The Washington Post the next day had a picture of one of the bridges, either the 14th street bridge, or the Memorial Bridge, sidewalk to sidewalk solid with pedestrians.

I walked all the way to National Airport, where people in cars were still gridlocked and unable to move. I stopped to rest at one of the bus stops there, and a couple of guys did the same thing joined me a few minutes later. They had a car parked at the marina another mile on and offered to give me a ride from there the rest of the way home, which I accepted. Plus, by then there was no one else walking, it was now well after midnight, and I wasn't all that crazy about walking alone in the park areas I'd be going through. So those two guys were a welcome sight.

I imagine it will be even more so in 2076. I really hope at my sons are still alive and go to DC.

[elleng]

11. That's a great story!

I didn't get to DC until '78, and first just saw fireworks from apartment in SW.

[SheilaT]

10. Deleted as a dupe

Last edited Fri Jun 27, 2014, 01:51 AM - Edit history (1)

[abelenkpe]

6. Cool.

36 and 38 here. Always wanted to live a long healthy happy life...

[elleng]

8. Here we go!

[mopinko]

12. i have been assuming another 30 years on my sentence on this rock.

my mom made it to 89, and my aunts made it as far as 90. mom had my baby sis at 43. i had my baby at 39

tough enough for 60. s'pose i'll have no choice about 90.

[gblady]

13. had my sons at 38 and 41.....

this is, indeed, good news.

I have my 66 b-day in a few days an have been pondering what I want to accomplish in my next 25-30 years...

[elleng]

14. Been doing that too,

including being a grandma!!!

[kdmorris]

15. Great news for me!

My sons were born when I was 44 (43 when I conceived them).

We probably live longer because I am taking super good care of myself now so that they don't have to worry about their mom dying when they are 20 years old!

[phylny]

16. I was 33.5 when our last was born :) n/t

[elleng]

17. Spring chicken!