The adventure of motherhood is just beginning for Mathilde – she finds her little Salomé, two and a half weeks old “soft” his rhythm in the family apartment in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine) – and that ” young “ Mama, an adjective she has a little fun with herself, knowing full well that at 41 she is ten years past the average age of having a first child, she lists the advantages of becoming a mother “with maturity”.

“In the family circle, among friends, but also with fellow midwives [un métier qu’elle exerce depuis vingt ans], I have a lot of feedback about pregnancy, but also about parenting in general. Like all witnesses quoted, she reports on condition of anonymity. I can share my questions about the rhythm of babies, material resources and children’s education with everyone of my generation who has already been there. » Not to mention the donations of all kinds that, as she points out, poured in: “My partner likes to say that we have clothes until the little one is 5 years old…”

The forty-year-old is one of the many participants in our call for testimony on the subject of late motherhood. Until then, the number of late births, in contrast to the overall birth rate, had not stopped increasing since the 1980s. From this decade onwards fertility increased continuously, a note from INSEE was dedicated to the topic in January 2022, initially for women aged 40 to 42, then in the 1990s for those aged 43 to 45 and finally in the 2000s for those aged 46 and over. A “continuous gliding” towards eternity “Higher and higher”Doctors specializing in reproductive medicine are observing this magnitude, particularly through the use of medically assisted reproduction (MAP).

Is this the end of a trend? In 2023 there will be births in this age group for the first time. These births represent less than 5% of the annual total. A ratio that can be seen in connection with an equally regular decline in the average age – currently 31 years – of all pregnancies.

“Say to yourself: “I can still””

It’s difficult to know exactly how many of these babies are the result of a recent pregnancy – after multiple children – or the very first. Demographers, on the other hand, say more about it “Reasons” which means that these women, these couples, don’t want to have children until late. “Many factors are contributing to this shift, such as the extension of study time for women and men, the establishment of women’s careers, more dynamic unions, more frequent meetings and separations than in the past…”explains Eva Beaujouan, demographer at the Wittgenstein Center at the University of Vienna.

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