Parenting

Here’s how old you should be when you start trying to have kids

If you want two children, you should start trying by age 27.

How many kids do you want? Shutterstock / Tom Wang

How old should you be when you start trying for kids?

If you have an idea of how big of a family you want, a new study published in the journal of Human Reproduction aims to help.

Researchers in the Netherlands created a computer simulation model of fertility to help couples decide when to start trying for a family based on the number of overall kids they’d like to have. Previous studies have focused only on the chances of a first pregnancy occuring, according to the researchers. The model was built using data over 300 years, reports The Boston Globe. The ages of modern women who have successfully used in vitro fertilization (IVF) were factored in as well.

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The results?

If you are interested in having only one child, you should start trying to conceive by age 32 for a 90 percent chance of success. For those same odds, you should start trying by age 27 if you want two kids and age 23 if you want three kids. In vitro fertilization couples can start a little later, according to the study — at age 35 for one child, 31 for two children, and 28 for three children.

The model assumes couples will try for their next pregnancy 15 months after the previous one. The study does not take men’s ages into account, nor does it offer a plan for families who wish to have more than three kids.

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Read the full story at the Globe.

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