Children born to older mothers tend to be smarter

A study published recently stated that children born to older mothers, women around 30 years old, are likely to have the potential for intelligence and physical health to be superior to children born to mothers under 30 years of age. Is it really like that? Check out further explanation below.

Why are children born to old mothers smarter and healthier?

A new analysis, published in the Millennium Cohort Study, states that women who have just given birth in their mid-30s have the potential to give birth to babies who are smarter than women who give birth in their 20s or 40s. In fact, this data was used to track the development of 1,800 British children, regarding the impact of a mother's age on their development and intellectual and physical potential.

In addition, other researchers from the London School of Economics (LSE) revealed that children born to mothers in their 30s achieved the highest cognitive scores, superior to children born to mothers in their 20s or 40s. LSE also concluded that children born to older mothers, their pregnancy tends to be delayed because they (older mothers) decide to have a career first.

Researchers believe this has a positive outcome, not the result of the children getting smarter, but the result of changing the characteristics of the more mature mothers. Mothers who are adults, the more mature they are in preparation and maturity in taking care of their children.

Alice Goisis, a researcher from LSE, also reveals the existence of other causes and factors. For example, for example women aged 30 who become mothers for the first time, tend to be more educated, have personal income, and are usually in stable relationships (romance or household). Then, their lifestyle is also considered healthier than the age of a mother under her, even many of them plan pregnancy with careful preparation.

Compared to births in 1970-1980, a child born at an older maternal age is likely to have been born as the third or fourth child in the family. Well, this could also be one of the reasons for the lack of attention and affection available from mothers to their first born children.

The advantage of women who become mothers at an older age

Research published in Journal of Family Psychology found, however, parental preparation, from an emotional, mature age, and income perspective, is important to produce healthy and intelligent children. Also, giving birth in middle age is not the reason for the unequal age gap between the child and the mother. On the contrary, there are advantages that have been investigated regarding women who give birth at an old age.

According to a 2016 study of 28,000 American women, women who had their first child after age 30 had 11% potential to live to be 90 years old. Inversely proportional to women who become mothers at the age of 20.

Another 2014 study also found that women who gave birth after the age of 33 had 50% potential to live to the age of 95. That is, when compared to women who gave birth to their last child in their 30s.

Actually, this is not what can determine a person's age, but there are new possibilities that could occur. But unfortunately there is no research that can prove this further.

Also pay attention to the risks

Deciding to become pregnant at the age of 35 years has more risks than those who become pregnant at a younger age. Fertility in women decreases with age. This is because every menstruation, a woman loses a number of eggs (ovum) which is a future fetus. In fact, since I was a baby, the number of eggs a woman has has been determined and will not increase. So do not be surprised, if at the age of over 35 years, a woman only has a few ova. This will make getting pregnant at the age of 35 more difficult.

In addition, the remaining ovum is at risk of having poor quality. As a result, the risk of genetic abnormalities in the fetus increases. Simply put, bad seeds will make a bad fetus too. Even in some cases, fetuses with genetic disorders will find it difficult to survive so that miscarriage can occur.

However, this does not mean that women cannot or cannot get pregnant at this age. If you plan to have children at the age of more than 35 years, consult your obstetrician so that your pregnancy can be safe for both mother and baby.