Your 20s

placeholding invisible text

Average rating:

Until recently, the average age for women to give birth was 27 and it's easy to understand why. This decade is still considered by many to be the most natural time to have a baby.

Pros

1. Your fertility reaches its peak in your early 20s.
2. You are fit and full of energy.
2. You're young enough to cope physically with the demands of a new baby.
3. You are more likely to be in a stable relationship with a steady income.
4. Your body is ready for pregnancy. But because you're still young, it's supple and flexible enough to recover quickly too.

Cons

1. Your social life will suffer. You can't go out clubbing with your mates every night.
2. Work might just be taking off and it will have to take a back seat.
3. You've just got used to having your own money to spend on yourself now it's going on a baby.

- Next: The good and bad points of having a baby in your 30s

More help and advice

- Tips on boosting your fertility
- 10 things you need to know about ovulation
- One mum's story of how conceiving took longer than expected
- Which type of contraception is best for me?

Previous page
Next: Your 30s

Rate this!

Average rating:

All pages in this article

Please leave a comment, tip or story in the box below

Brenda, 19 days

I too had my first at 21. And I had my seventh at 34. I was much more tired during the last pregnancy, of course I'm sure it was from taking care of the first six, ha ha. But I know my body went back to normal easier in my 20's. I only had two of my children in my early 30's and only one in my early 20's, the other 4 were after age 25 but before 31. They were the easiest. So I gues I would say 24 - 32 would be the optimum years to have your children. You are past the crazy early 20's and me me me part of life. And your body is still young. You also will still be young while raising your children too. I always say I was one of the younger moms taking my first child to kindergarten, but by the time I took the 7th one, I was one of the older moms. Age 26 when my first was 5, and 39 when my last was 5. You will also be a relatively young grandmother too, if you have your children in your 20's and early 30's.

Report this comment

Hannah, about 1 year

I think the best time is whilst a woman is in her twenties...not just for the fertile reasons....I had my eldest at 21 yrs old, then my second at nearly 23 yrs old, and my youngest at 29 yrs old. I felt there was a stigma attached to having a child at 21, which was silly, and I felt people were waitiing for me to mess it up, I would get comments like "Oh, you are still breastfeeding?"and "Don't you want to go out with friends, at your age?"...The fact is that children completed me, the advantage of having one at age 29, was that, people didn't watch my every move, as having three children before the age of thirty, meant I was more experienced than them !.

Report this comment