Older women can cope with motherhood

Research presented at the annual American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in New Orleans has shown that older women in their 50s and 60s can cope with motherhood as well as women in their 30s and 40s. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California, revealed that once a child is born older women were no more likely to suffer from mental or physical effects of parenting than younger mothers. The findings come as part of the growing evidence to support women having children later on in life.

150 women were surveyed who gave birth between 1992 and 2004 at the Women and Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, a third of whom were over 50. Half the questionnaires were returned. Anne Steiner, who headed the research, draws the conclusion from the study that 'if we look from the perspective of stress and physical and mental functioning, it doesn't seem we can restrict parenting based on these reasons'.

In Britain there is no upper age limit for fertility treatment but many IVF clinics will not treat women who are over 45 due to increased risks of pregnancy, and the NHS will not fund IVF for women over 40. News of Patricia Rashbrook, who gave birth at the age of 62 following IVF in Eastern Europe, created a media storm last July. She defended her decision to have a child saying that it was the 'quality of parenting that matters, not age'. Lord Harries of Pentregarth, the interim chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, last week commented that maternal age should not be grounds for refusal of IVF treatment.

Critics have pointed out that the study only followed women with children up to the age of 12 and does not show how older women cope when their children turn into teenagers. Bill Ledger, of the University of Sheffield, commented that 'I have yet to be convinced that a child will have a good quality of life if its parents are older than its friends' grandparents'.

But Gillian Lockwood, medical director at Midland Fertility Services, said: 'I don't agree with the view that men may father a child into their late 80s, but it's wrong for women to want to extend their fertility after 45. That's ageist and sexist'. The oldest mother in the world is Adriana Iliescu, from Romania, who gave birth last year at the age of 66 after undergoing IVF treatment using donor eggs.