How Late Can Men Become Fathers?

Although a woman's supply of eggs is fixed before birth, a man's supply of sperm is in theory limitless. The testes can produce sperm about every 16 days essentially as long as a man is alive, and because a single ejaculation can release as many as 1.8 billion individual sperm, only one of which is need to fertilize one egg, male fertility is not usually as problematic for older couples seeking to conceive as female fertility. That doesn't mean, however, that older men don't have problems becoming fathers.

• Nearly all men over the age of 45 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. It's possible for a man to ejaculate even without an erection, although many men won't try. 
• Obese men at any age tend to have trouble with both ejaculation and sperm production. Fat cells preserve and manufacture estrogen, even in men, reducing activity of the testes.
• Prostate problems impede male fertility. The prostate makes semen. Without the prostate, there is no ejaculate, although the testes may continue to make sperm.
• DNA damage can occur in both eggs and sperm in both men and women, but the problem accelerates with age in men. At the age of 30, both a mother and a father typically pass on about 20 genetic mutations to their children, most of which are harmless. By the age of 40, the mother still passes on 20 mutations to her child, but the father passes on about 40 mutations. By the time a man is 60, the number of mutations is about 60. Older fathers are more likely to have children who have cleft palate, autism, and schizophrenia, and their children are more likely to be born prematurely or have a low birth weight.

For the health of the child, it's better start trying to conceive about as soon as financial and social stability can be established. But how would you know if you need medical help to have a child?

READ A Complete Guide to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF Treatment)

• The overwhelming majority of a man's sperm will be defective. Even if you get test results of a semen analysis reporting "95 percent defect," or even more, this doesn't mean that sperm quality will interfere with your efforts to have a baby.
• Women typically have blood testing for a substance called anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) to find out if their ovaries are still releasing eggs. It's important to understand that AMH levels can fluctuate, and that while the "normal" range is 13 to 60, higher isn't necessarily better. High levels of AMH are associated with polycystic ovarian syndrome, which interferes with a woman's ability to conceive. Don't panic if your AMH level is on the low end of the normal range.
• Women are often given invasive ultrasound to make an image of the ovaries around the time of ovulation. While it can be thrilling to see your own egg follicles and know that you are still fertile, this test really isn't designed to measure your fertility. It's designed to measure whether you have eggs that could be extracted for IVF. 

Fertility tests help to pinpoint problems in getting pregnant, but they don't guarantee that you will be able to get pregnant if you wait. It's always best for the health of the parents and the health of the baby if conception occurs as soon as the family is ready to provide for the child.