With many major issues – like careers and the financial reliance on women as well as men to pay into that all-important first home – being factors that have dominated the social changes of the last generation, it is not surprising that the national average age for a woman to have a baby is creeping up and is now around the 30 years mark for a first child.
With medical knowledge, it is now easier than ever to have a safe pregnancy after 35, but there is no denying that being in your 20s means you are more likely to get pregnant quicker and enjoy health benefits through pregnancy and post-pregnancy that older women do tend to struggle with.
We are all different, and a good relationship doesn't always blossom into a decision to start a family at what is in theory the best time, so we thought we ask you what you think:
14 per cent of you thought that being under 25 was the best age to try for a baby, with the biggest majority of the vote settling for 25 to 30. This age has obvious physical benefits as well as being a time when more women are likely to have become settled in their home and work life, so that is understandable.
There was a fair bit of support for 30-35 (13 per cent), but interestingly, only one per cent voted for after 35. Although the reality is that more women are having babies after 35, many of them probably would have chosen to start at least a little earlier if conditions had been right.
Interestingly, nearly a third of the vote (29 per cent) went to 'whenever feels right', which, ultimately, makes the most sense, whatever the text books tell us to do!
