That is a very good thought on the matter.
I have had childless female co-workers tell me how their pets are just like children to them and love them unconditionally.
However, one of them finally had a child and called me aside one day. Her child had thrown their arms around them and said “I Love You”. They knew then what I had been talking about, and how their life was forever changed and made worthwhile by that baby.
I work with some of them as well (white, childless middle-aged women); when someone proposed resurrecting the company picnic for the employees’ families, one of them snarled, “Only if we can bring our dogs”.
A lot of regrets in some of them, and real bitterness towards younger women avoiding the same path (especially minorities).
I had the same arguments with several coworkers when I had my first. I had a picture of my first dressed up for Halloween, and get shown others’ pictures of dressed up dogs.
And I had several professional women tell me I was too young to have kids at 25, should have put more into my career. The fact that I’d been married several years and already had a house was irrelevant - their model was party another five to ten years, then hope the eggs hadn’t gone bad.