ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — David Letterman, Ricky Martin, Jay-Z, Alec Baldwin, and George Clooney all have one thing in common. They all had a child after the age of 40. And they are not the only ones. The average age of a father has increased three years to 30.9, because of the rise of older dads, but do you know all the risks that come with it?
Each year, four million little girls or little boys are born in the U.S. That’s eight million little feet. 40 million tiny fingers and 40 million tiny toes but the one number most parents don’t think about the age of father when that baby is born.
A recent Stanford study showed that fathers over the age of 35 were at higher risk for low birth weight, seizures and need for ventilation. If the father is over the age of 45, the babies have a 14 percent higher chance of going into the NICU. Futurity.org suggests considering a sperm bank before men turn 35. Also, as you age, so does your sperm, so keep up a healthy lifestyle through exercise, eating right, low caffeine and alcohol consumption.
Kristin Stanford, physiologist at The Ohio State University, told Ivanhoe, “The offspring who were from dads who exercised and were fed a high fat diet had improved metabolic health compared with those who were fed a high fat diet.”
With ways to be a healthy dad.
But it’s not all bad news … according to verywellfamily.com, some of the benefits of being an older father is financial security, being able to spend more time with your child, being able to share more life experience and having more patience.
Sources: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-the-average-age-of-a-new-father-in-america-2017-08-30 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/well/family/the-risks-to-babies-of-older-fathers.html
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2018/10/older-fathers-associated-with-increased-birth-risks.html https://www.futurity.org/older-dads-2060492-2/
https://www.verywellfamily.com/being-an-older-parent-4155772
Contributor(s) to this news report include: Keon Broadnax, Writer and Robert Walko, Editor.
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