73 year old woma has given birth

Saw the family on television. The grandmother and the mum did not look in the best of health. Sadly, the wee one I doubt will ever really know the parents. I just hope there is a wider family that can help out. It is not fair on older siblings to be left bringing up baby. They have their own lives. I will never understand why older ladies want to do this. Im exhausted looking after my grandchild. I also believe menopause happens for a reason, it signals the end of childbearing but also a beginning of the next stage of women's lives.

Define nature-

annsixty a very good point
It s an awful story if it’s true I m still not sure of it’s validation Can we be sure they used an 82 year olds sperm? It said they looked at her school records to verify her age it all seems so far fetched A Caesarian is considered a major op would that be so easy on such a very old lady
He’s since had a stroke all too much for him ?
What a disaster and leads the way for more what next an 80 year old giving birth
Science should not be used to go outside normal living and this isn’t normal living Arrogant doctors know better than nature

I have just been wondering how I would feel if I thought for one moment that it was my donated eggs that had been used in this case.

However you look at this situation it is just not right.
I have seen documentaries about the childless in India and the lengths they will go to to achieve their goal and I was horrified.
Doctors must take the blame for enabling the women to proceed.

Yes, just because we can, doesn't mean we should.
This is just wrong on every level.
It isn't true that in every Indian village others step in to care for children, any more than that would be true here. India has a lot of street children, visible on streets, railways stations, at the road side.
As others have said, many of us are in our late 60's and 70s and look after grandchildren one or two days a week, or more, whilst parents work. I know I'm exhausted at the end of our child care days.
Very selfish of the medical team involved never mind the parents themselves.

Just because we can do it, doesn't mean we should do it.

I feel it is an abuse of medical intervention. The welfare of the children should be paramount

What amazes me even more than this story is the claiming to know what God had a hand in and didn't!

Nobody knows for certain what these little ladies lives will be like- Why envision the worse? Their parents were free to procreate despite their age- Did God not have a hand in their circumstance because they were old? Would the same be said of a much younger couple that took the same medical route? Or the 61 year old Nebraska mother who was surrogate for her gay son and his husband?

Attempts to engineer who can and cannot give birth or abort, or determine with complete certainty where the hand of God was or wasn't are steeped in prejudice-

I think the decision to have children is always selfish – you long to have a child, you need an heir to the title and estate, you want to revive a failing marriage, you want your teenage boyfriend to marry you, you desperately need a marrow match for your terminally ill existing child, etc. Raising and nurturing the child is where unselfishness clicks in. I have friends who have tried just about everything – some medical, some off-the-wall psychical – to become pregnant with no success. It is a great grief and terrible disappointment – but life has successes and failures, fulfilment and despair in very many ways. I have an instinctive feel that if pregnancy does not happen – with or without medical intervention – before the menopause, then to stop seeking that goal is the way ahead. Your body, your mind, your energy levels, your way of life, your relationship and your age are all contra-indications.

How awful if it’s all as it seems I know its reported by the BBC but it’s a very short report and seems very limited in its information as are other reports in Guardian, independent etc so I m sceptical as to how and why it happened
She got pregnant on the first round of IVF what are the percentages for that to happen at her advanced age
Men also lose fertile sperm as they get older and although it can happen it would be so rare
So many rare events coming together
As it’s all paid for by the hospital I m really feeling it’s a horrible experiment in kudos to have the oldest couple in the world having babies
Poor children apparently the chances of babies having mental health problems when born to older parents is higher too I didn’t realise that
No reports of nephews and nieces stepping in Bradford they are probably all dead as the average age of dying in India is 68
Sounds like a hideous experiment to me not a happy, happy event

Apparently the grandmother said that the whole family would look after the twins, the grandmother must be at least 90.

This is wrong on so many levels.

"It's in the hands of God" what happens to the children when the parents die says the father. Well it wasn't in the hands of God that they conceived a baby. Left to the hands of God this elderly couple would not be having children that they are clearly unable to look after. Maybe they think the children will look after them! Totally selfish and impracticable.
Also how come India is spending so much on their IVF programme especially for unsuitable couples, not to mention all the money on space programmes etc when so many are living in poverty and abject misery in India? Isn't it time they did something about this rather than the rest of the world having to send charity funds to keep the poor alive. Even then charity funds don't always reach the intended with officials making money out of it.

This seems very cruel to me. Those poor children.
I was " sort of okay " at 73, but by jove, 6 years down the line has made a heck of a difference !

Blimey, there'd be a hoo-ha in this country if for some reason the ageing GP's were looking after new-borns. Social services wouldn't be best pleased.

Apparently her husband is a farmer - not exactly a well paid occupation in India. She has said she wanted children because of the way other villagers were looking at her (great reason to have a child!).

When asked what will happen to the children when the parents die the father said "It is in God's hands", I hope that isn't the limit of their forward planning.

I fear for the future of those children once the parents die, bearing in mind the attitude towards girls in India.

From the Times-
Aware that a world record was on the line, it was reported that the clinic paid for most of the treatment.

- so no evidence of lots of money being left for the children.

And the rights of the children?
Nephews and nieces etc, may well be ready to step in,
but those children deserve much younger parents.

Imho extremely selfish.

I read that all the private treatment was free to them as the clinic wanted to prove it could be done.
It was a feather in their cap.
The mother was in hospital throughout her pregnancy.
Hardly sustainable for others to follow.

There's too many people in India ( and the rest of the world) as it is. I expect the woman was also very disappointed to have not had a son!

It's crazy. It's not as though the babies are biologically hers. An egg from another woman was used. She just put her body through all that stress on her own whim alone. Babies are not playthings.

So wrong.

I'm happy as well-just so grateful I will never have to do anything so desperate. I assume they have money or they couldn't have afforded the treatment. If it is good for children is entirely another question. They will have the oldest parents around and possibly not for long. My sympathy is with them.

How wonderful for them.
Fancy having to wait all those years, desperate for a baby and seeing everyone around them with their own. It must have been heartbreaking.
Now she can say: "this is the happiest time of my life."
Bless her heart.

Indian families usually raise children communally (especially in villages) and I am sure they will have discussed this with their own.

After all, it is a huge and controversial step to take (not to mention expensive) so they must have been encouraged to take it by loving nephews and nieces who promised to step in when needed.

It's stories like this which make my day happy.

Father has already had a stroke, the day after the birth according to the news.
What hope for the children.
The photo of the mother showed a very old lady.

As the average life expectancy in India is 69 this does seem a bit selfish. I hope the parents are wealthy enough that they can make arrangements for the children to be well taken care of after their deaths.

Mother Nature knew what she was about when she arranged menopause.