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Last Updated:
Jan 3rd, 2010 - 00:09:53
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Question
I am 24 now and my husband is 37 years of age. We are planning a baby in June 2005. I am worried about my husband's age. Can it affect the child bearing process and can we have a healthy child? He doesn't have any health or medical problems for now, and he is fit in his sexual life too. As this is our first baby, I am really concerned. Please help.
Answer
A man becomes able to father a child when his testicles begin producing sperm, at about age 12 or 13. The testicles will produce new spem continuously, throughout his life. Whatever age a man is, his sperm are from a day to about a week old, at most.
Unlike a man, a woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have. These eggs are not fully developed all at once, but a woman does not make additional, new eggs during her life. When we say a woman has ovulated, we mean one of these existing eggs has "ripened", and been released from her ovary. So whatever age a woman is, her eggs are that age also.
The age of a man has no impact on the health of his sperm, or the health of the babies he might conceive. Other factors might influence his ability to father a healthy child, but his age is not one of them. So your husband's age is not a problem. Nor is your age: 24 is a very good time to have a child. After the age of 35, a woman's ability to conceive starts to decrease slightly, and her chance of having a baby with a genetic problem called Down's Syndrome goes up slightly. This is because her eggs are also aging while she is. However, this does not mean a woman will have a problem, only that there is a slightly greater chance that she will, as she ages. Most babies born to women in their forties are perfectly fine. It is also possible for a young woman to have a baby with this problem, but in these cases the cause is not known.
Gail McNaughton, RN, NP is an OB/GYN Nurse Practitioner, and a Creighton Model FertilityCare Practitioner, in Fresno, CA.
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