As we know, "late" pregnancies present greater risks for the health of the baby. If the expression is generally associated with women over 40, it is from the age of 35 that you have to start being vigilant. Researchers from the Harvard University School of Public Health in Boston, in collaboration with the scientific team from the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, concluded that it was necessary to wait at least a year between each pregnancy from the age of 35 to reduce the risk of death from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. Between 12 and 18 months is, according to scientists, the ideal waiting time before getting pregnant again. The research focused on 148,544 Canadian pregnancies, on which a lot of information was collected, such as the child's birth certificate or the conditions of hospitalization.
It has been observed that women over the age of 35 who waited 6 months before becoming pregnant again had a 1.2% risk of death or severe complications, the equivalent of 12 affected pregnancies in 1,000. Waiting 18 months before conceiving again, on the other hand, drops that figure to 0.5%, or 5 in 1,000 affected pregnancies. . Whether the high risks are due to the body not having had time to recover from the first pregnancy and childbirth, or the various factors related to an unplanned pregnancy, such as inadequate prenatal care for example, the recommendations are the same:taking appropriate postpartum contraception or abstaining from unprotected sex says Professor Sonia Hernandez-Diaz of Harvard. The risks of preterm labor (delivering before 37 weeks) were also higher in pregnancies separated by an interval of 6 months:6% (60 pregnancies out of 1,000) against 3.4% in women waiting 18 months. It's good to know... Do not hesitate to spread the word around you, and more especially to your female acquaintances who dream of having "close" children...
