Having babies later is a consequence of modern life

When I was pregnant with my first baby in my mid-30s, I felt like a teen mum and was surprised the midwives weren't commenting on how young I was, writes Margaret Donnellan

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported this week that a record number of babies were born to women over the age of 45 in 2023. File photo

Filling out the 2022 census sparked a previously dormant interest in genealogy within me. 

I was newly postpartum and feeling a bit sentimental, thinking of all the mothers before me who completed their forms with a baby in arms. So, I headed to the census archives and searched for my ancestors living between Cork and Clare in the turn of the 20th century.