Q&A: Do women have all their eggs at birth?

by Dr. Gerard M. DiLeo

Do women have all their eggs from birth, or are the eggs actually produced by the ovaries up to menopause?

A woman has all of her eggs at birth—no new ones are made. In fact, most a woman's eggs die before puberty, and she ovulates with the ones that are left (usually one at a time of course). 

It's interesting, therefore, that if someone is 30 years old, he or she is made of material that is 30 years + age of mother at time of conception. So if your mother was 26 when she conceived you, she conceived you with a 26-year-old egg, making you 56 if you count the egg age.

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