Let’s Talk About Fertility and Age

In this episode of the Birthful Podcast, we are going to be talking fertility facts, when planning to have children later in life. In the past 40 years, the number of women waiting to have babies until their mid-30’s or later has significantly increased. How does age affect a woman’s ability to get pregnant, and what can she do about it? To learn more, I’ll be talking with Dr. Lisa Doran.

What we talked about:

• When and why does getting pregnant become difficult?
• The optimal biological age for fertility
• Your ovarian reserve
• Toxins, toxins, everywhere!
• The pill and your fertility
• The rocky road of assisted reproductive technology
• Ways of improving your health for better fertility and pregnancy
• Mind blown: your environment while pregnant affects your granddaughter
• Balancing the overwhelming information
• Why choosing nurturing and supportive care provider matters
• Being pregnant in an older body
• Thoughts on Apple’s and Facebook’s ‘freeze your eggs’ employee benefits

More on fertility and “advanced maternal age”:

• Natural ways to get pregnant after 35 (and 40!) by Kristen Laine
• If you want to get deeper into the topic, below are 4 research articles on the subject:
  • Advanced Maternal Age — How Old Is Too Old? by Linda J. Heffner, MD, PhD
  • The risks associated with pregnancy in women aged 35 years or older by Jolly, M, Sebire, N, Harris J, Robinson, S and Regan, L.
  • The perinatal effects of delayed childbearing by Joseph KS, Allen AC, Dodds L, Turner LA, Scott H, Liston R.
  • Age shock: misperceptions of the impact of age on fertility before and after IVF in women who conceived after age 40 by MacDougall, K., Beyene, Y., and Nachtigall, R.D.
• A great online support community for older moms:
  • Motherhood Later: an international moms organization devoted to moms parenting later in life

Courtesy of Lisa Doran

About Lisa Doran

Lisa is a naturopathic doctor, who specializes in women’s and children’s health, and has a wealth of experience working with families on their journey with fertility, pregnancy, birth and the newly postpartum. Aside from running her very busy practice, Lisa is frequently an invited speaker to professional seminars and has published extensively on complementary and alternative medicine. Dr. Doran is the co-author of the “Bearing Witness” book series, which includes “Bearing Witness: Childbirth Stories Told By Doulas” and it’s sequel “Joyful Birth: More Childbirth Stories Told by Doulas”.

She also has three growing sons, a huge vegetable patch, an old fiddle, a spinning wheel, a red canoe, a dog named Daisy and a long-time partner of 22 years who all keep her healthy, grounded, balanced and happy.

The best way to see what Dr. Doran is up to is through her website at www.barefoothealth.ca