Why one mum waited till she was in her 30s to have baby

Published on Friday 5 August 2011 18:50

FIONA Pratt, a mother of four young children, had her first child in her early 30s

Ms Pratt, who runs a bakery in Edinburgh and has another shop in St Andrews, said waiting until then had had its benefits. "It wasn't a conscious decision, not getting round to it until I was 32. I was waiting until I found the right person. I was also really busy with work and friends. There are just too many distractions when you're younger and there was no urgency to have a child. It just wasn't high up on the agenda," she said.

She added: "When I think back, there wasn't anyone I was really friendly with who had a baby while still in their 20s. We were all at university together and then working together.

"Then it all sort of happened at once when we were all about 30 upwards. One minute there were no babies, and then I'd be getting a text about once a month saying someone was pregnant."

Ms Pratt, who worked as a sales team leader before making a career change to set up her own business, said that having a baby at the age she did had meant she was able to build up her career. "By doing that I could get on the property ladder, which I think would have been a lot more difficult if I'd had my children in my 20s.

"The flip side is that you have more energy when you're younger. I don't know if having a baby later means that you are necessarily more calm and organised. I know younger mothers who manage just fine. You just have to do what suits."

Yesterday's statistics showed that the average age of mothers and fathers last year was 29.6 and 32.4 respectively, compared with 27.4 and 30 in 1991. Scotland saw 58,791 births registered in 2010 - 255 (0.4 per cent) fewer than in 2009 and the second year in a row the number has fallen after six consecutive increases.