Britain's top midwife, Professor Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) asked health experts to stop “terrifying” older women about the risks of having babies. She said problems attached to age has been overstated. Number of older mothers has risen in recent years as more and more women prioritise their career.
As doctors warn women against waiting to conceive, stating that fertility drops with age, Professor Warwick said the risks were being overplayed. Due to stand down this week after nine years of leading the RCM, she said, “Even if you have your baby at 42 or 45, it's a relatively small increase in risk to you if you're otherwise healthy. I'm not sure why we're quite so worried about the age issue, and I'm not sure we should be terrifying women about it.” Warwick said women should not feel guilty about bottle-feeding their baby.
“If women don't breastfeed, I don't think they should feel guilty. We have to say 'breast is best' because, it is, but what's best for the population is maybe different from what's best for the individual woman, and an individual woman can very successfully bond with their baby and bottle-feed their baby.”
The statements come in direct contrast to the views of many leading fertility doctors who say many women leave it late to have children because they do not realise the risks.
