October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month

So in honor of Down Syndrome Awareness Month I will try to educate everyone on things you may not have known about Down Syndrome (DS). Something you can pass along to someone else and help spread the word and awareness.  

Every day of the month I am going to give you either a myth about Down Syndrome which I will tell you why its a myth or just a little tid bit of information about Down Syndrome that you may not have known already.  

So here we go with our first myth buster...

Myth #1: Babies with Down Syndrome are born only to women over the age of 35.

Fact: Well obviously I am not 35 yet, so that has to be false. In fact advanced maternal age does contribute to being at higher risk of having a child with DS. But what you haven't heard is that 80% of children with DS are born to women under the age of 35. Why you ask, its because women under 35 yrs old are more fertile and tend to have more children.