'I thought there’s no way I could be menopausal — I’ve just had a baby'

Women who give birth in their late 30s and their 40s may unwittingly find themselves in two stressful life phases at once

Emily Collins who got her first symptom of menopause at the age of 36 when her second daughter was six months old. Picture: Moya Nolan

After Dublin mother of one Lorraine Heffernan had her daughter, Ava, now three, at the age of 45, she didn’t think about perimenopause.

“I thought there’s no way I could be menopausal,” Lorraine says. “I’ve just had a baby. That’s years down the line.”