When it comes to fertility and pregnancy, every woman has her own mechanism. While some get pregnant easily, others will have more difficulty, as evidenced by the many cases of artificial insemination. Nevertheless, one characteristic is common to all women:over the years, getting pregnant is more and more complicated.
At 25, the chances of pregnancy per cycle are 25%. Ten years later, they drop to 12%, dropping to 6% at age 60. After 45 years, they are almost nil, can we read in The great book of fertility. Except here it is:as figures from the National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) remind us:“Around 1970, French women had their first child at the age of 24 on average; today it's 28.5 years old." So how do we do it???
On average, a woman has her menopause around the age of 50, says INED. Caution:This is an "ultimate" limit. "In societies where birth control was not practiced, women still married at age 50 had had their last child well before that age, around age 40 on average," the Institute reminds us.
In short:most women therefore become sterile well before the age of 50. And this age varies among women.
Not necessarily, reassure us (or not) the doctors authors of the Great Book of Fertility. 1/ Because you can very well get pregnant without assistance and 2/ because this assistance may not work in some cases, especially if the woman's age is too advanced.
“Many couples resort to medically assisted procreation (AMP) (several tens of thousands in France each year), but success is far from guaranteed. Worse:aging does not help, and the success rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF), for example, drops sharply after the age of 35 and becomes almost negligible after the age of 45,” says INED.
" Why ? Because medical methods help above all to obtain better ovulation and better fertilization, but they do not cancel all the underlying physiological factors (…). In the vast majority of cases, therefore, ART will remain a very uncertain remedy for the difficulties of having a child after 35 or 40 years of age,” concludes the Institute.
"However, we must remain vigilant", insist the scientists of the Great Book of Fertility:"After a period of six to nine months (of trials), it is essential to consult to establish a balance sheet. It's too often said, "Wait, it's coming" or "it's because of your stress that you're not pregnant." So:we keep hope… and we consult several doctors, just to have a complete vision of our chances and to gather as much information as possible.
Yes ! This is called vitrification, and it has been authorized in France since 2011. For this, we will immerse the cells in liquid nitrogen, at almost -200°C. But the oocyte collected must be of good quality, which is why it is advisable to take the process before the age of 35. It is also recommended to do at least two punctures, a slow process (many tests to do before each puncture) and expensive (allow at least 3000 euros per puncture).
Difficult…but not impossible! Because if vitrification does not guarantee a pregnancy, and the chances of getting pregnant remain lower than those of a 30-year-old woman, the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians considers it "medical progress ". "The only truly effective infertility treatment method at 40+," they write.
Injustice of nature:the influence of paternal age is less…but still exists. “An alteration of the spermatozoa is observed from the age of 45 with an increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities beyond the age of 55. Thus, paternal age can interfere with sperm quality, risk of birth defects and spontaneous miscarriages,” the experts at The Fertility Big Book tell us.
> Laurence Levy-Dutel, Isabelle Berthaut, Laurence Brunet, Charlotte Dudkiewicz-Sibony, Carole Minker, Jérôme Pfeffer, The big book of fertility , Eyrolles, 2015.
> Price:€23.90
