WOULD YOU BUY YOUR OWN GRANDKIDS?

With egg freezing on the rise, many parents are footing their children's fertility bills...

-  CHER HEASMER

As a mother, it could be argued that it’s only natural to fantasise about grandchildren when our own children have grown and flown the nest. We imagine doing all of those things again that we miss from raising our own children – picnics in the park and collecting acorns and pine cones on autumn walks. But the best part, some might say, is that we get to be fun granny and grandad – not the ones disciplining or dealing with the sleepless nights. We get all of the best bits and none of the stress! But with the average age of mothers increasing from 26 in the 1970s, to 31 today, many women are left wondering if they will ever become grandmothers – especially when their daughters reach 35 – an age when fertility begins its decline. However, that gentle sound of the ticking biological clock that only gets louder with age could become a thing of the past as more and more women in the UK hope to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs.

Latest figures show egg and embryo freezing are the fastest growing fertility treatments in the UK, rising 64%, from 2,576 cycles in 2019 to 4,215 in 2021. But future-proofing motherhood comes at a price and with costs starting from £2,500, treatment is often inaccessible.

Small wonder then that future grandparents are choosing to invest in their daughters’ fertility, footing the bill themselves rather than risk a life without grandchildren. One woman tells us why she chose to pay for her daughter to freeze her eggs in the hopes of one day having a grandchild…

‘It was money well spent’