Londoners are leaving it later and later: How to conceive in your late thirties

Yahoo

7 days ago

Rising costs of living, career focus and access to IVF means that in London, mothers are likely to have babies far later than elsewhere in the country. Nationally, the average age of women having their first child in the UK is now 31, but in London that is much higher: 63% of women living in London have children past the age of 30, and the capital also has the highest birth rates among the over-40s. As a 36-year-old woman I'm surrounded by friends and family who are waiting to procreate until they have achieved certain work milestones, reached a level of financial comfort, or are just generally, more mentally prepared. The decision to delay makes sense - having a baby later in life means that you are older, (probably) wiser, (hopefully) richer, and more likely to be emotionally mature enough to handle being slapped by a toddler. But, the choice to hold off on having children comes with its own perils and gambles, as the ever-looming spectre that is female fertility haunts us at every turn. Most of us aren't quite sure what's going on in our ovaries and exactly what state they are in. Are they ok down there? Is there anything we can do to make them feel more comfortable? Should we install surround sound to keep our eggs content for longer? Get a chaise longue? Do they need higher thread count sheets?
Thankfully there are, apparently, things that we can do to optimise the path to conception and give ourselves better odds. According to MyFLO app founder Alisa Vitti, who will be speaking at London's upcoming Health Optimisation Summit, age shouldn't incite such paralytic fear when it comes to fertility. As the creator of the 'Cycle Syncing Method', she's an expert in hormonal health. Overcoming her own difficulties with PCOS and infertility to conceive her first child at 37, Vitti is the poster woman for her method's success and believes that her approach can help others to avoid fertility problems. When I asked her what some of the most common misconceptions were surrounding the topic of fertility for women in their late thirties, she highlighted a slew of misunderstandings. For one, she challenges the medical view that women's fertility universally declines in their late thirties, believing this to be far too simplistic. According to Vitti, everyone's hormones and ovaries age differently according to diet and lifestyle choices made in their late 20's and early 30's and there isn't a specific birthday when we all wake up and suddenly find ourselves barren. Vitti also highlights the fact that many of us don't realise that there are steps we can take to improve our fertility, and wants to show that IVF isn't the only solution available when we're met with reproductive roadblocks.
But fear not, if you were like me and lived a Bridget Jones-adjacent lifestyle in your 20's, there are still changes you can make in your daily life to help improve your fertility. Vitti recommends monitoring your cycle via a period tracking app to gather insight into your cycle length, symptoms, and regularity, and you can also get at-home kits to specifically check a range of hormones relevant to fertility. Cycle syncing is also something she cites as beneficial, which is the process of aligning routines, activities, and diet to the phases of your cycle in order to enhance fertility. Limiting alcohol, she also says is important, as is eating regularly to maintain a healthy blood sugar level. Skipping meals and chronic dieting are two things that she states as counterproductive to fertility, and she also emphasises the importance of protecting your melatonin levels by getting plenty of sleep and using blue light blocking glasses.
Vitti also describes how your cycle is an essential biomarker for your health and fertility - and that there are some tell-tale signs you can look out for to gauge your fertility. PMT, for one, can indicate that you aren't producing enough progesterone, a hormone vital to conception and maintaining a pregnancy through to week 12. Cycle consistency is also important, with irregular periods possibly signalling a fertility problem. The length of your period and volume of blood per cycle is also important to pay attention to - with a short (four day or less), light period potentially pointing to insufficient estrogen levels.
While the road to motherhood is different for everyone, Vitti believes that these lifestyle adjustments can help many to overcome hormonal health difficulties and make it smoother for women in their late thirties to conceive. Instead of seeing our fertility as an irretrievable object flung off a cliff at the age of 35, Vitti seeks to shed light on the fact that women's reproductive health is something that can be protected, and even improved. While the topic of infertility can be a raw and difficult subject to navigate, Vitti hopes that by giving women more insight into their cycles and hormones that they can feel more empowered to make changes, instead of feeling like a victim of the inevitable. I didn't get the chance to ask Vitti if our ovaries are also partial to a chaise, but I'm sure that setting one for them wouldn't hurt either.