Baby boom where life really does begin at 40

Published on Wednesday 30 September 2009 10:05

OLDER mothers are being credited with fuelling a mini-baby boom in the Lothians.

A surge in births last year saw more babies born than at any time for almost 20 years.

The increase has been put down to a number of factors, including the growing number of migrant workers settling down and starting families in the Capital.

But the biggest rise has been among the over-40s, with the number of new mums above that age doubling to more than 400 since the turn of the decade.

The number of over-35s giving birth has also leapt by almost half. There has also been a noticeable fall in the number of teenage pregnancies.

More women are choosing to put off starting a family until later in life, according to Graham Mackenzie, NHS Lothian's consultant in public health.

"Many women are now choosing to have children in their thirties rather than their twenties and it has also become much more common for women in their forties to become mums," he said.

"The changing birth rate in Lothian is in keeping with that in the rest of Scotland and reflects the fact that improved healthcare, and changes in lifestyle, mean women feel more able to choose when to have children."

The figures from ISD Scotland – Holyrood's official publisher of health data – show there were nearly 10,000 births in the Lothians in 2008, a 9 per cent rise from the year before. This was the highest number since 1993 and the fourth highest since the 1970s.

Mr Mackenzie added: "One of the most encouraging features of the new figures is that they suggest a continuing fall in the number of women who are smokers at the start of their pregnancy."

The rising number of births had been predicted following demographic studies by NHS Lothian, and the trend is expected to continue.

There are plans in place to extend the maternity units at the ERI and St John's Hospital in Livingston.

The growing number of births has even led health chiefs to plan a larger capacity for the new Sick Kids hospital, planned for 2012, in order to cope with the bigger population of children.

The extra births have put pressure on existing services, with seven expectant mothers being turned away from the ERI and redirected to St John's earlier this year.

Gillian Smith, the director of the Royal College of Midwives in Scotland, said: "There's absolutely no doubt things are very busy just now, and it's not just the staff, it's things like beds that also count.

"Certainly the number of migrants, when you consider there are 30,000 Polish people in the Lothians, has brought a change in the demographic."

Is it really so great to wait?

GINA Davidson recently gave birth to her third child at the age of 37, and has mixed views on the merits of motherhood in later life.

Her youngest, Sam Hendry, is four months; her eldest, Jack, is five and she has a two-year-old, Charlotte.

"I think there are some benefits to this because you are more sure of yourself and what you want from life and for your children," she said.

"If you had a career before that you are also better placed financially."

She added that there were some drawbacks: "Your energy levels would be lower the older you are, and I think physically women were built to have children younger."

"And if it's your first child, you may well have got used to a certain style of life, which the longer it goes on, the harder it is to give up."

"Even at the school gates you notice it a bit, everyone seems to be older now."

• www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

• www.rcm.org.uk