Source Irish Examiner
SUSAN never imagined she’d be a first-time mum aged 50. “I thought I’d be preparing for retirement, not changing nappies and dealing with night feeds,” laughs the now 53-year-old from Co Meath.
She is one of an increasing number of women having babies in their sixth decade. In 2007, only four women in Ireland had babies in their 50s but by 2015 — the year Susan’s daughter Niamh was born – that figure had risen to 16. A further 17 babies were born to women in their 50s in Ireland last year.
These figures are small but they are growing, thanks to breakthroughs in reproductive medicine.
In Ireland, women are increasingly spending their 20s focussing on education and their 30s building careers and searching for suitable partners. Inevitably, some face fertility issues when the time is finally right for babies.
