EDUCATED women are often clueless about how rapidly their biological clocks are ticking, prompting experts to call for fertility classes in schools.

Queensland IVF specialist David Molloy said he was surprised by how many tertiary-educated women believed science would allow them to have a baby at any age.

“Reports of celebrities like Janet Jackson or Sonia Kruger having babies at the 50-year mark lead women to think that fertility has no limits,” he said.

There has been no live-birth IVF in Australia for a woman over 47 using her own eggs.

“If the talk about age and female reproduction is addressed in the school years it could save a lot of heartache in later life,” Dr Molloy said. “Knowledge can empower women to make plans and choices.

“Older celebrities often tell the media that they are pregnant using their own eggs.

‘‘We have a joke in the business when we hear this. Yes, they are their own eggs. They bought and paid for them.”

media_camera Many women mistakenly believe they can delay motherhood until their late 30s and rely on IVF to conceive into their 40s.

A 2016 survey of 1000 single women under the age of 45 by Virtus Health confirms that women are making career and lifestyle their first priority.

The overwhelming majority, 78 per cent, believe more should be done to inform women about how egg freezing can protect their future fertility, with 67 per cent believing that fertility education in schools should be improved.

Australia’s fertility rate of 1.8 per cent is at a record low.

“I always tell women that IVF is not an insurance policy to have a baby. It is not the antidote to getting old,” Dr Molloy said.

With traditional sex education advising teens on how best to avoid pregnancy, he said similar emphasis needed to be placed on not leaving it too late.

“These survey results confirm that many women mistakenly believe they can simply delay motherhood until their late 30s and that, if needed, they can rely on IVF to conceive well into their 40s,” he said.

“As a woman ages, so do her eggs, and it is not possible to improve the quality of a woman’s eggs, which impacts her chance of conceiving, both spontaneously and with IVF.”

A woman at 30 has a 20 per cent chance of falling pregnant naturally each month, compared to a less than 5 per cent chance once she reaches her 40s.

media_camera Rosie Luik with her book and her children, Aston, 8, Elvie, 4, Coco, 7, and Ava, 11. Pic: Steve Pohlner

Meanwhile, Queensland mum Rosie Luik hopes to have her storybooks introduced into pre-schools, schools and in libraries to teach four to six-year-olds that in today’s society babies are made in a variety of ways – even in laboratories.

With data revealing on average one child in each class is born through IVF, she wants to make the birds and bees story relevant.

“The books have beautiful illustrations and explain IVF, IUI, surrogacy and donor use in simple terms,” she says. “I was a surrogate for my friend and delivered twins, so my children understand that families come in all shapes and sizes with a variety of dynamics.

“It’s important to open that conversation with our kids,” she said.