什么時候生孩子比較好？

Over the past three decades, there has been a steady increase in the average age of parents. Advances in fertility science mean that people can, literally, put their eggs or sperm on ice and delay the start of parenthood.

過去三十年里，新生兒父母的平均年齡始終在增長。生育科學的進步意味著人們可以從字面上將他們的卵子或精子冷藏起來保存很久，直到他們想要一個孩子。

Many large companies, such as Apple, Facebook and Google, now offer egg freezing to employees as part of their healthcare package. Putting off having a baby has never been easier or more socially acceptable. But is it a good thing?

許多大公司，如蘋果、Facebook和谷歌，冷藏精子或卵子的服務項目已經成為了員工醫(yī)療保險的一部分。歷史上，我們從來沒有機會像現在一樣隨心所欲地決定自己的生育時間，人們也從來像現在一樣將推遲生育視為平常。但這是好事嗎?

There are three things to consider. Will your child be healthy? Will you get pregnant? How much will it cost?

有3件事需要考慮。經由延遲生育手段得到的孩子健康嗎?能夠成功妊娠嗎?它要花多少錢?

Parents have a moral obligation to give their child the best start in life.

父母有道德和義務為孩子提供最好的人生起點。

But children born to mothers over the age of 35 and fathers over the age of 45 are at greater risk of having genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism, which arguably affects the child's quality of life.

但是，35歲以上的母親和45歲以上的父親的孩子患遺傳和神經發(fā)育障礙的風險更高，例如精神分裂癥和孤獨癥，這可能會影響孩子未來的人生。

Also, older parents are more likely to need assisted reproduction, such as IVF, which is associated with babies being born early or with low birth weight. Babies born via IVF are also at higher risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in later life.

此外，年齡較大的父母更可能需要輔助生殖技術，例如IVF，有研究發(fā)現，其中存在著未知的風險。通過體外受精(IVF)出生的嬰兒在以后的生活中也有較高的心血管和代謝疾病風險。

If prospective parents freeze their eggs or sperm when they are younger, they can reduce some age-associated risks but not those due to IVF.

如果準父母在他們年輕時就凍結了他們的卵子或精子，他們可以減少與年齡相關的風險，但不會降低因IVF導致的風險。

The method of fertilisation in IVF with frozen eggs is intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), where sperm is injected into the egg. ICSI can also increase the risk of birth defects in children.

為冷凍卵子受精的方法叫做卵胞漿內單精子注射(ICSI)，就是將精子物理注入卵子。 ICSI可能還會提高兒童出生缺陷的風險。

Using ICSI is also more common in older men where sperm motility is poor. Again, not the best start in life.

在精子活性低的老年男性中使用ICSI更為常見。所以又回到了最開始所說的高齡父親的問題。

So you've decided to wait

不急著懷孕

If you want to wait to have children, you are not alone.

如果你這么想，那你并不孤單。

Most couples will fall pregnant after trying for a year. Although one in sevencouples has trouble conceiving – and age is a big player in this.

大多數夫婦會在決定要孩子一年后懷孕。雖然有七分之一的夫婦在懷孕方面會遇到困難——年齡是一個重要的指標。

One in six women aged between 35 and 39 years of age will not conceive after one year. If their partner is over 40, this drops to more than one in four.

年齡在35至39歲之間的女性不會在一年內受孕。如果他們的伴侶超過40歲，那么這一比例將下降到四分之一。

IVF is seen by many as a fail-safe way of conceiving, but its success is also governed by age. For a woman using her own eggs, the success of IVF over 40 is less than 10 percent.

IVF被許多人視為保險的兜底手段，但其成功也受年齡的制約。對使用自己卵子的女性來說，年紀超過40的女性，IVF的成功率不到10%。

The risks of delaying parenthood have been simulated with computer modelling.

計算機建模模擬了大齡父母的風險。

If a 30-year-old woman delays trying for a baby from age 30 until 35, her chances of falling pregnant are reduced by 9 percent, but IVF will only compensate for 4 percent.

如果一名30歲的女性在30歲至35歲之間推遲了生育的嘗試，她以后懷孕的幾率會降低至9%，而IVF只能在此基礎上提高4%。

And if you want to freeze eggs, great. Except women produce fewer eggs ("oocytes") as they get older, so older women may need more rounds of stimulation to store the eight to ten eggs needed for a reasonable chance of a successful birth – and this can be extremely expensive.

如果你想冷凍卵子，那很好。女性隨著年齡的增長，排卵(“卵母細胞”)減少，老年婦女可能需要更多的干預才能儲存成功分娩所需的8到10個卵子——這一過程代價不菲。

What will it cost you?

生育開銷

Although IVF is expensive, there are also other significant indirect costs of having a child.

雖然IVF的價格就已然十分昂貴，但生孩子還有其他不容小覷的間接開銷。

The "motherhood wage penalty" is often cited in economic discussions about the effect of motherhood on women's careers. It is the loss of earnings women are subjected to as they move into a non-paid job for a period of time.

比如，關于女性職業(yè)生涯的經濟討論中經常引用的“孕婦隱形工資懲罰”。它等價于女性因在一段時間內無法工作而損失的收入。

There is some evidence to suggest that women can earn more by delaying motherhood from their early twenties to early thirties.

有數據表明，如果女性在二十的時候將生育推遲到三十歲后，可以賺取更多的收入。

But this wage penalty does not appear to be gender specific. A paternity quota of parental leave was introduced by the Norwegian government in 1993, and a study found a similar negative effect on the earnings of stay-at-home fathers.

但這種工資懲罰似乎并不是針對性別的。挪威政府于1993年讓爸爸們也享受到了“育兒假”福利，然后一項研究發(fā)現，對父親的收入也有類似的負面影響。

The bottom line is, if you take time out to have a family there will be a drop in earnings.

最重要的是，如果你抽出時間來組建家庭，那么收入就會下降。

When to start?

那什么時候生孩子最好

The scientific data is clear. The "right" age to have a child according to your biological clock is under 35 for women and under 40 for men.

科學數據很清楚。從生物學角度來說，生育孩子的“正確”年齡：女性不到35歲，男性不到40歲。

More than 75 percent of young people underestimate the impact of age on male and female fertility – yet only 27 percent of doctors discuss this with patients aged 18-34 years who wish to delay childbearing for social reasons.

超過75%的年輕人低估了年齡對男性和女性生育能力的影響——同時，只有27%的醫(yī)生會與18—34歲的患者討論這一問題。

There needs to be a greater awareness about the risks of delaying family planning, and family doctors should play a more proactive role in this.

為了讓大多數適齡男女意識到延遲生育的風險，家庭醫(yī)生們應該發(fā)揮更積極的作用。

So, ultimately, if you want to have a child, the right age may be sooner than you thought.

所以，如果你真想要一個孩子，宜早不宜遲。