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Babies Later in Life

Pregnancy at 35 and Older

By Jill Eggleton Brett

Down syndrome results in a combination of mental retardation and physical abnormalities due to an extra chromosome 21. The risk of a 25-year-old woman having a child with Down syndrome is 1 in 1,250; for a 35-year-old woman it's 1 in 378; and for a 45-year-old it's 1 in 30.

Medical technology offers a mother several methods of testing in the early stages of pregnancy to find out whether or not her baby has a chromosomal disorder. The alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) test is a blood test that is typically done on a woman during the 16th to 18th week of pregnancy, not just those 35 and older. It is a screening test that checks for indications of birth defects and chromosomal abnormalities. A low AFP result may indicate Down syndrome or other chromosomal disorders.

If this occurs, the AFP test is commonly followed by an amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS). The CVS test has an advantage over amniocentesis because it can be performed as early as the 8th week of pregnancy, while an amniocentesis is typically performed in the 16th or 17th week of gestation.

Eileen Sweigart had a baby girl with Down syndrome at the age of 37. "When my AFP test came back abnormal, my husband and I were told that our chances of having a child with Down syndrome had gone up considerably based on the test results," she says. "We were encouraged to have an amniocentesis several times. We discussed it and decided that we would just continue the pregnancy and accept this child no matter what the outcome."

Sweigart is currently pregnant wih her second child, "With my current pregnancy I did have an amnio done," she says. "I am 41 years old and given that I have a daughter with Down syndrome, my husband and I were again highly encouraged to have an amnio. I think we held our breath until we got the results. When everything was fine we were so relieved, but I have to say that I really don't know what we would have done if the results had been otherwise."

Want to see more?

• Considering Pregnancy Later in Life: What's Stopping You from Becoming an Older Mother?
• Giving Birth Late in Life: How Old Is Too Old to Give Birth?
• One and Only: Is One Child Enough?
• Join the discussion on our Family.com community!