For those that started having children in your 30s, what stopped you from having kids earlier?

I always like the idea of kids and thought that one day I would have one. But practically, I just valued my freedom, being out with friends, doing work trips, reading books in peace (haha) much more than motherhood. When I approached 35 I realised that I have done a lot and now would be the perfect time for a child before health risks start increasing

My body wouldn't let me. Started trying at 25. Took until I was 32 to have my daughter with a loss in-between.

I’m sure I probably would of had my daughter earlier if I’d met the right person earlier or we met at the right point in our lives we met 10 years ago last year and wasn’t the right time for our relationship then 4/5 years after that we got back into each others lives settled back with each other had our daughter then got married. I think a lot of the time it’s circumstances everyone’s lives are busier getting careers or just getting through life until you meet that person you have your child with

I didn’t know my husband until I was 28! We got married when I was 30 and had our first when I was 31

Met my husband at 26. Wanted to enjoy our time together before deciding to have kids. Made sure we were mentally and financially ready for kids.

Met my husband at 27, emigrated to a new country together at 30, had our baby boy at 33. I’d have loved a baby sooner but practically it wasn’t the right time for us.

Met my oh at 25. Brought our house and got married at 27. Pregnant at 29. Average age for South London/Surrey or seemed to be from fb.

I didn’t have a serious partner in my 20’s

Got together with my husband when we were 24, split up when we were 29, got back together when we were 30. Then life got in the way. Trying to sell our 1 bed flat and buy a bigger house, leaving my employed job and starting self employed which then meant I needed 2 years worth of books before we could move house. Eventually started TTC at 35, then took 2 years and 4 miscarriages before finally having our daughter when we were 38. Now expecting another baby and I’ll be 40 in 2 weeks time x

I was in a relationship for 15 years and he always found an excuse to put it off, didn’t meet my husband until I was 30 and then took a while once we started trying with a loss for our first pregnancy

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I had my first at 22. I wouldn’t say I regretted anything, but I promised myself the next time would be different. So here I am pregnant 🤰🏾 at 30 with my 2nd lol
It was a long gap but I pretty much accomplished everything I wanted to from my 1st experience.
I get 6 months of maternity leave instead of a few weeks, engaged to be married, flexible work where I can be remote, blessed financially and an amazingly supportive partner ❤️

Met my husband when i was 33, got pregnant after 4 yrs of trying, gave birth just last December. Im now 37 yo. I just didn’t find the right guy when i was younger. But it wasn’t so bad, i was able to enjoy myself to the fullest. Got no responsibilities before, got a job, spent money for myself and now im very much ready and content with family life.

I’ve always wanted kids but I waited till I was ready. I met my partner at 25 and knew he was the one but we had so much to do. We built a life, built our careers, travelled to over 50 countries together, had so much fun. When we were ready, we decided to have a baby. She travels with us and we make enough money to provide endlessly for her and give her a safe roof over her head.

I couldn’t have done that (and wouldn’t have wanted to) in my early 20s. If I had had a baby then, I’d have never gotten my degrees, never built my career, never left the city I grew up in and never met my husband. I’d have probably stayed at home with my mum nearby and been making a low income and unhappy (I was back then in that dead end place).

My 20s were for me, my 30s are for my children xx

We just didn't want them before our 30s. We met when I was 25, moved in together a year later and eventually started saving for our own place and then a wedding. We'd been enjoying ourselves in the meantime too with great holidays, fancy dinners and all that jazz. We'd been together for 6 years by the time we tried for kids just after our wedding and luckily I fell pregnant first time with both.

I also didn’t want them. I’d grown up with much younger siblings and been the default babysitter for most of my teens. Hated it. My husband and I got together when I was 21, married when I was 30 and first (and only!) baby just before I turned 32. It took a long time for me to be sure I could do it, had no doubts about my husband. But I know I don’t ever want to do it again, and thankfully he’s on board with that.

Extremely abusive partner, I could never have been sure my child would have been safe, and then I had miscarriage after miscarriage when I met the right person.

I always knew I wanted to be a mum & it was always a top priority but I wanted to have a few things in place first. Like don’t get me wrong, no one is ever in the perfect situation right 😂 but I met my bf at 24. We went on some amazing holidays & had a great time together & then started saving money. We got our lovely home. I’m now 30 & we are having our first kid 😁❤️ we can’t wait and we feel soooo ready 🥰 I’m glad I waited. If I’d had a kid before I was at least mid 20s I think would have struggled x

Relationships, education, and money got in the way. I got married at 26 but it became evident a few years in that I didn’t want my exhusband to be the father of my children, so I left him. At the time that we married I was an undergraduate student and he was in the military, so it wasn’t a good time. Then he used to say things like that children should be seen and not heard, and it was obvious that he would be both unhelpful and emotionally abusive. I went to graduate school after that and I didn’t meet my current husband until I was almost 31. Following the natural course of the relationship, we didn’t get married until I was 33, pregnant at 34, and a mother at 35.

Waiting for my husband to finish grad school and get a “real” job, and then I was ready but we had a cross country move and a tragic death in the family that pushed our plans back. So I was ready only about two years before we had our daughter (I was 30) and my husband was NOT ready until like the month we started trying haha. I’m glad i we had fun in our 20s and didn’t start sooner, although I was hoping for my first around 28.

I met my husband when I was 23 and he was 30, so he couldn’t have started sooner. But we also waited for him to finish his education, me to get a foothold in my career and for finances to become more secure for both of us before we even got married. We also needed to connect and travel together. If we had had kids immediately we likely wouldn’t have survived the transition into parenthood. We have less than zero family support, and he couldn’t have supported me staying home with our kids as a graduate student which we knew we wanted for our kids. We had our oldest at 29 & 36. Part of me wishes we could have started a year or so sooner but the timing has been working out for us so far.

I started trying at 25 with my ex and didn't have any success, was told I'd need IVF by my OB. Money was tight so I'm glad it never happened. Moved in with my current husband at 34 and got pregnant in 8 months.

My husband and I were very content with it just being us and our dog. We really enjoyed not having that responsibility and having freedom to do as we pleased. I also never really felt ready and of course finances was always a concern if we could afford it.
When we started trying we had been together for 10 years and married for 6 years.

Finances. Wanting to enjoy married life before having kids. Wanting to travel before kids. While I agree ur never fully ready for kids, I was definitely more ready and more prepared in my 30's than in my 20's. I still felt like a child myself in my 20's

I’m glad I waited till my 30s. I was able to get all the partying and crazy life out the way, I was able to get my masters, start my career and buy my own home by myself. By the time I realized I wanted to have kids, I felt way more mature and ready to settle down.

My reason was situational. I would have loved to have kids after 25. But my husband and I weren't married until we were 27. And then we bought a house after we got married and due to his mental health his psychologist suggested waiting a year after any big change in his life before starting another. And after we married at 27 and bought a house, the next year we had our wedding (this was during covid so got married no wedding first year, then big wedding following year), THEN we wanted a honeymoon the next year so we did that.

So we started planning kids after we waited 6 months after we went to Mexico to be safe of any zika or anything. We started trying when we were 29, but got pregnant after I turned 30. We lost the first pregnancy due to a fatal chromosomal disease, and then took time to grieve our loss after delivering a stillborn.

Started trying again this past January, and got pregnant right away. So now we will be 31 with our first baby if the pregnancy continues to go well.

I hadn’t met the right person to have children with until my late 30s and also wanted to be more financially stable. I do wish I had the energy I had in my 20s though!

I started trying for a baby at 20, had infertility struggles with my ex, met my current husband and was pregnant 4 months later

I didn’t feel ready and actually turned out I wasn’t with the right person so I was never made to feel capable. Now much more confident and happier in a new(ish) relationship and feel like I can achieve anything 💪🏻

Was married at 27, ready to have a baby straight away. Covid hit and we decided to stop trying due to jobs etc. had our little girl at 30.

Life.

In college I was serious with a guy that I really wanted to-do life with however my mother destroyed that relationship along with me being young and unable to set boundaries with her at that time (long story 😩). So took time to get over him. And my second relationship after a cpuple years dating we realized we wanted different things in life and broke up. After that relationship ended I took a job opportunity that had me move states at 27 where I met my now husband. We married 2 years after dating and had our first when I was 30. We are noe expecting baby 2 amd I am 32 now.

So life brought me to having my LOs in my 30s. 😊

If you had asked my back in high school my plan was to be married and having a family by 25. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂 Life said No to that plan. 😂

Personally I didn’t meet my husband until I was 28. And I tried for years and ended up finally pregnant at 31. It was the perfect time for me though. I graduated with my masters when I was 7 months pregnant so it all worked out. I’m glad I had my son when I had my son.

Fertility issues, took 14 years to conceive again after loss.

The right man I didn’t get married times 27 and then fertility issues

Shitty partners. Chose to have a baby with someone I knew would be a good father, partner, etc. Took awhile to find him at 29.

I didn’t want kids until I was like 26 or 27? And my boyfriend was just not mature enough and we had some relationship issues and I didn’t want to even get off birth control. Then we worked through our relationship and moved in together and I got off birth control (to help with my migraines because the doctor thinks they were caused by the hormones), we never used condoms but he did pull out every time and we ended up getting pregnant six months later. I had my son four days after I turned 29 so I guess I was still technically in my 20s but that’s why I waited

Sorry you've had to go through that, so unfair xxx

Dated a bunch of shitheads in my 20s, and I was also too immature to have kids myself. I didn’t meet my husband til I was 31 and more settled in my career and lifestyle.

I had 2 miscarriages before 30 and it took a little bit for me to have my first and second
I’m 34 now with 2
I always wanted more kids but I’m not sure I’m up for having them at my age

I know I’m not too old or even close .. but I feel like I don’t want to be an older mom

I didn't marry my husband till I was 29 and then we waited a year before trying, and it took us 2 years to get pregnant. I'll be 33 when my baby is born.

I didn’t meet my husband until I was 33, married at 30, first child at 41. That’s just how it goes, you change so much In your 20’s, I can’t imagine meeting my person before age 25/30

I met my now husband at 26 and we got married when I was 28. I moved to his country at 29 (a few months later) and immediately got pregnant. I am 30 now and had my baby 2 months before turning 30 🤣

Took me 10 years due to fertility struggles.

I started trying for a baby at 24, had been with my partner for 6 years.
After a 3 1/2 year process and 2 operations the end result was he couldn’t have children 😢

We separated for different reasons and I spent around 6 years single (one short relationship)

By the time I’d met my now partner and fallen pregnant I was 36. (We moved quite quickly though)

But I hugely see the benefits in me having children later in life. There are pros and cons but weighing it up I’m very glad things worked out the way they did.

My husband and I got together in 2013. We wanted to have stable incomes, a good amount of savings, a decent home and be married before we had children. We got married in 2022 and fell pregnant a couple of months later.

I'm so glad we waited until our 30s (I was 32 when I gave birth). I would not have coped well emotionally, physically or financially, especially as we have no family nearby.

Finances and my career had to come first for me so that I’d feel more than capable of caring for my future children. I had a very broken unstable childhood spending my childhood worrying if I’d have a roof over my head and I just never wanted that for my kids so that had to come first

I only met my partner when I was 34. I’d been single from my early 20s, I worked on my career, I was a girls girl who went out with friends most weekends and then when they started settling down I just was never lucky in love. I had a family trauma and I started to travel a lot. I got to a point where I had a great job, still lived at home and had the disposable income to travel every time I had a break from school. After always wanting to settle down I got to a point where I had just accepted I didn’t think I was going to meet someone and just enjoyed my life. Then Covid hit, it stopped my travelling and I met my partner. Now I look back I just feel that’s how my life was meant to be mapped out. I’ve lived my life I’ve achieved so much and now I’m so content being at home with my family. I will never look back and ever feel like I missed out x

I met my husband at 24 and married at 26. Then we didn’t start trying until we were over a year married as I wanted to enjoy that time first. We were lucky and got pregnant first time and had him at 29. Had baby number 2 last year at 31 (going 32) and now he’s nearly 1. I wanted to be ready myself. My husband would have had kids as soon as we got together but I didn’t want that as I’m 7 years younger than him

well I got pregnant at 31 after meeting the love of my life. I always thought I’d have children between the age of 35-40 and that’s exactly what I am doing !

I didn't realise that having babies in your thirties was considered "later in life", I thought it was a pretty typical age to have kids?