How old is too old to have a baby?

Dr Becky Howie shares both the stats and the stories to remind us that ‘age matters, but it is not the final word’

This month we celebrate Mother’s Day, which is a deeply emotional day for many, including those who long for children, those who have lost children, and those who have lost mothers. This month, I want to spend some time talking about a common question I hear often in my consulting room. 

“Am I too old to have a baby?”

It’s one of the most common, and emotionally loaded, questions I hear from women in their mid-30s and beyond. It’s asked in GP surgeries, anxiously in fertility clinics, and late at night in online searches. For Christian women, the question can feel particularly loaded, bound up with ideas of calling, trust, surrender – and sometimes guilt. The Bible speaks often of children as a blessing, yet biology and life circumstances do not always align with expectations.