Age and Fertility for Pregnancy

From a strictly biological perspective, the 20s is the best decade for conceiving and carrying a baby: Experts say the average woman's fertility peaks when she's 24.

Like every woman, you were born with all the eggs you will ever have: about 1 million at the time of birth. By the time you reached puberty, your eggs numbered about 300,000, but only about 300 are released from the ovaries during your reproductive years.

As you get older, your ovaries age along with the rest of your body, and your eggs become less viable. For that reason, younger women's eggs are less likely than older women's to have genetic abnormalities that result in Down syndrome and other birth defects.
The risk of miscarriage is also far lower: The risk is about 10 percent for women in their 20s,  20 percent for women in their mid- to late-30s, and about 35 percent for women in their early 40s.

In your 20s, you're less likely to have other gynecological problems like fibroids and endometriosis, which often progress and become more of a problem over time.

Pregnancy itself is usually physically easier for women in their 20s, since they're at lower risk of health complications like high blood pressure and diabetes.
Finally, younger women are less likely to have premature or low-birth-weight babies than women over 35.

Fertility-wise, it doesn't matter if you start trying to get pregnant in your early 20s or your late 20s, according to Judith Albert, a reproductive endocrinologist and scientific director of Reproductive Health Specialists, a fertility center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "The difference in a woman's fertility in her early and late 20s is negligible," she says.

Once the baby comes, as a 20-something mom you're apt to have the resilience to wake up with the baby a couple of times a night — and still be able to function the next day. You'll have a lot of company as you chase your little one around the playground: The average American woman has her first child at age 25. And when the time comes for your own child to follow suit, odds are you'll still feel vital and energetic enough to be an actively involved grandparent as well.

Beyond the physical advantages, there are other pluses: "You're more flexible in your 20s, which is good for your marriage and for the transition to parenthood," says Susan Heitler, a family and marriage therapist in Denver, Colorado. "When people get married later in life, instead of 'our way,' there is often 'his way' and 'her way,' which can make marriage difficult and parenting even more so," she says.