Want three kids without resorting to IVF? You should start your family at age 23, say researchers

A team of scientists have worked out the ideal time to start trying for a family to increase your chances of having your desired number of children

"When should I start trying for a family?" - it's something that everyone who wants children will think to themselves at some point in their lives.

And these days an increasing number of people are waiting until they are older to have kids.

But with NHS fertility specialists recently telling people to get pregnant BEFORE they are 30 - or risk never having a baby - many women will undoubtedly be wondering when the 'right' time to start trying is.

A team of scientists at Erasmus University in the Netherlands have created a computer model which they claim can give women a rough idea of the time they should start trying for a baby if they want to maximise their chances of having their dream family.

Scroll down for the two-child and three-child family models

The figures are the result of crunching natural fertility data on 58,000 women, collected over 300 years up to the 1970s.

They tell women at what age they should be trying for their first baby, based on how many children they would like to have in total and whether they would consider IVF.

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Of course, the numbers are based on averages and won't apply to every woman - but they can be a good indicator.

Dik Habbema, one of the creators of the model, told New Scientist: "We have tried to fill a missing link in the decision-making process.

"My son is 35 and many of his friends have a problem deciding when to have children because there are so many things they want to do."

He added: “Our results are generally valid for couples where the man is not more than 10 years older than the woman."