Pregnancy After 40

Many women today are waiting later and later to start a family. Women over 40 trying to get pregnant face medical risks with their age. Special precautions, however, can be taken to increase chances of conception and ensure a healthy pregnancy.

It's more difficult to conceive after 40, and the miscarriage rate increases with both maternal and paternal age, says Michelle Collins, a certified nurse midwife and an assistant professor of nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Nashville.

"My first and only child was conceived after only one month at age 39," says Sue Patton of Basking Ridge, N.J. "Now I'm 43, and I'm having problems conceiving. I've had three miscarriages in the last year, which I'm told is typical at this age."

The miscarriage rate is about 12 percent in women less than 20 years old, and increases to 26 percent in women older than 40, who are at "an advanced maternal age," Collins says. "For women over 35, there is a higher incidence of chromosomal abnormalities; the body's ability to recognize these in an embryo results in the higher miscarriage rate."

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