Late Motherhood - what's your opinion?

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Follwing this article I read in the news today, I was wondering what your opinions are on late motherhood? Yes, it's the mother's decision whether to have a child much later in life than normal, but what of the affects on their health? is it fair on the child to bring it into the world when the mother may become too old or ill to look after it properly before the child has reached adulthood?

Am interested to read your thoughts on this :)

LONDON - A 62-year-old child psychologist has given birth to a boy, becoming the oldest British woman to have a baby.

Patti Farrant — known professionally as Patricia Rashbrook — delivered her son, J.J., by Caesarean section on Wednesday, according to The Daily Mail newspaper. The baby was conceived after fertility treatments.

Farrant has three grown children from a previous marriage. It is the first child for her husband, John, 60, an education management consultant.

"He is adorable, and seeing him for the first time was beyond words," she told the newspaper. "Having been through so much to have him, we are overjoyed. His birth was absolutely wonderful and deeply moving for both of us."

Other older British mothers include Liz Buttle, from Wales, who was 60 when she gave birth to a son in 1997.

The oldest woman in the world to give birth is believed to be Romanian Adriana Iliescu, who was 66 when she had a daughter in Bucharest in January 2005.
Click to expand...

Article from Yahoo.com
 
I think it is cruel personally. They may not live to even see the child's 10th birthday! I think it's lovely that they wanted more children but it is most likely that the child is never going to fully appreciate that.


Xx..::Mia-Sara::..xX
 
I agree with that post ^^
They'll be almost 80 when the kid is in worst age. How on earth they can keep up with him?

Our neighbour. Got his first kid when he was 51 (kid is now 1.5 yrs) and woman was 46 or 47. I wasn't so happy. Now I'm guessing with dad is she pregnant again and dad just said "If she is... I thought HE would be smarter than that"
 
That's gross. 60+ is the age where you should be having grandchildren, not having your own children. Once these children turn 20 or older their parents will be gone and that'll be really tough. I mean, if some eldery couple give birth to a girl and the father passes away a few years later who's gonna walk the girl down the aisle when she gets married. These people have to think more about themselves...it's their kids that matter the most. My mom was 24 when she had me and my dad was gonna turn 31 in October to I got lucky.
 
My mom was 28 and so was my dad. I think that's a good age. You've lived a bit and are adult enough (usually :p) to be responsible for raising a child. Even into early 20s and mid-30s is still reasonable. But past 50, that's just selfish on the child.


Xx..::Mia-Sara::..xX
 
I think it's just wrong. You probably had plenty of chances before 60+ to have a child. My mom had me at a pretty late age (37), and I wonder if she'll live to see my kids or not, which is really sad.
 
I dont have a strong opinion on it but its good that the old mothers are helping to shape up the population especially in the developed countries which need more children for the economy. :p Hey, I was trying to find a plus thing for older mothers. :lol: BUT on the bad side, the children itself will miss out on many things that a younger mother might give to those children than an older mother would. But it's okay if the mother in question has been trying for years and years..it's okay but if you had many many chances before it and IVF at an old age, it's just abusing nature tbh.
 
I don't think this is right at all!

Firstly she is having IVF cause she is past child bearing age, so nature says she is too old to have kids this should be the way of things!

Secondly I'm with all other posters it is not fair on the child, it is hard to lose a parent when you are an adult but this child is much moe likely to lose their parents at a young age, very unfair on the child :(

Sometimes I think all these advances in medical science cause us to lose our common sense and stop thinking through decisions, because we now can do things we couldn't concieve of before, we think we have the right, some people need to stop and think of the consequences first :eek:

I speak as a scientist who is still excited by progress and new discoveries :)
 
Yeah I have to agree with you. It is not fair to the child, even if the mother lives to see the child turn 18, that now 18 year old has to take care of the mother. It is not right to put that kind of responsibility on someone. Not saying that many younger kids don't already do that because of other circumstances but at 62 you know that that will be the case.
 
I guess I have an odd and skewed view on the matter for a number of reasons...

- My mom was in her mid 30's when she had me.

- I was told as recently as a 2002 hospitalization (keep in mind I'm 50 now) that I was "medically healthy" for childbearing, although the hospitalization was not related to reproduction and by that point we'd stopped actively trying.

- I'm 50. I'm not DEAD. In fact, in many ways I feel like I'm just getting my bearings in life. When you turn 50, think about some of the things you're saying now..."gross"..."had their chance"...hopefully, you'll be able to laugh. I damn well ain't laughing.

- I have one son from a previous marriage in my 20's. Attempts to bear a child with my current husband - who has been the world's most awesome stepfather to my son - resulted only in two miscarriages, when I was in my 30's. After those, I was examined and told I was perfectly capable of carrying a healthy pregnancy full term; it was apparently a problem with my husband's "little soldiers", a syndrome unfortunately common to men who work in certain areas of aerospace facilities.

- I have to live with listening to my mother-in-law piss and moan about how "I should have had another child, since this one ain't gonna give me no grandchildren."

Look. My husband is a wonderful man, fantastic with kids, and there should be more of him in the world. If we ever get into a financial situation to allow it, we've considered adoption. That may or may not happen. Right now, all we can do is to spread the love we've got to those who can benefit from it. Sometimes that's meant my son's friends, many of whom are alienated from their own parents. Sometimes that's meant adults who are just down on their luck and need understanding. Sure, I've often wished I could see a little cafe-au-lait skinned, curly haired product of our union running around twanging on the guitar or going nuts with the paintbox...it hurts like hell that that isn't gonna happen, and the constant reminders from Vyan's mom really aren't necessary. It's not as if she's that deserving of having ANY fecund female's uterus laid on HER altar.

I'm just saying, I feel like things happen for a reason, and late-life moms, provided they're healthy and capable of caring for a child properly (this should also apply to much younger women!), shouldn't be frowned upon.

I'll never be a grandmother either, due to my future daughter-in-law's medical situation. Instead of whining and kavetching about that fact, I'm just grateful for having a wonderful son who chose such a loving, intelligent, terrific girl to spend his life with, and for every opportunity I have to show caring and kindness to ANY child who crosses my path, be they a great-nephew or the latch-key child of a hard-working single mother down the street.

At the end of the day, they're all children, and regardless of how much anyone feels like giving them, they all NEED. God bless those who give it, regardless of their age or relationship (if any).

Rant done.
 
I see where you are coming from and yes 50 is not that old nor do I think that 60 is ancient. I just think it is not fair to the child to be put in that position. If you want to spread the love around and share your experience why don't you just adopt a child by this age, usually, you have the patientence and wisdom to handle a adoptive child--espically if that one happens to be older.
 
I don't think it's fair for the child. Also, even if the mother is perfectly healthy, the child is far more likely to have birth defects. The chances skyrocket at age 35, then steadily increase.
 
i think that if a child can be brought into this world and be healthy, loved and cared for for a sufficient amount of time then i think that it is alright. but wouldnt you want to see your child grow up and watch them have their own babies? if you have children when your older than most, then you may not be able to enjoy that. and your children never stop needing you, regardless of how old they are so the more you're around, the better it would be for your child to help them through life.

just my two cents.... my very confused two cents that dont appear to have a central argument :p okay, i'll be over here now... *points to corner*
 
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