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Kids of older moms
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Do children experience consequences when women delay motherhood until age 35 or older?
Health-wise, first-born children of older mothers are similar to children of mothers aged 25 to 29. They also reach certain developmental milestones at about the same time and they have similar average scores in cognitive development, physical aggression, emotional disorder and anxiety, and hyperactivity and inattention.
However, children of older mothers are more likely to be late to first sit up by themselves, to score lower on the Motor and Social Development Scale at ages 2 to 3, and to have lower positive behaviour scores at ages 4 to 5.
About 40% of children of older mothers are delivered by caesarean, almost twice the proportion of children of mothers aged 25 to 29 (23%). Of children of older mothers, 17% are born pre-term, compared with 11% in the younger group.
Children of older mothers are more likely to have been breastfed for more than six months: 43% versus 26% in the younger group.
