 Dr Patricia Rashbrook became the UK's oldest mother in July |
Women who give birth over the age of 50 are both physically and mentally as "capable" as younger women of being good mothers, a US study has concluded. Californian scientists found the women did not have higher stress levels or health risks than younger mothers.
The research will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicines.
But another expert said the study of 150 mothers did not address the effect on children as mothers grew older.
The research was carried out by scientists at the University of Southern California (USC).
They looked at 150 mothers in their 30s, 40s and 50s who had fertility treatment between 1992 and 2004.
All the women studied had conceived between through USC's donated eggs programme.
Prejudice
The scientists said: "The subjects were given surveys to determine their physical and mental functioning and parental stress.
 |  If we look from the perspective of stress and physical and mental functioning, it doesn't seem like we can restrict parenting |
"Overall the researchers found that the women in their 50s did not have reduced parental capacity or higher stress levels than the younger women."
Dr Anne Steiner, who carried out the research, said the study suggested opposition to older mothers may be based on prejudice rather than evidence they were poor parents.
She said: "The conclusion from this study, though it is limited and of small size, is that if we look from the perspective of stress and physical and mental functioning, it doesn't seem like we can restrict parenting based on these reasons."
But she added that many of the women in the study had younger partners, which could influence their ability to cope.
They said the findings dispel the myth that older women should be barred from having IVF on account of their age.
Bill Ledger, professor of obstetrics at the University of Sheffield, told the Independent: "The problem I have is not what happens to mothers at 50 to 55.
"What worries me is what happens when their children are 18 and they are in their 70s and 80s. I am not in favour of banning things, but I am concerned for the welfare of a child whose parents are as old as its peers' grandparents."
In July, a 62-year-old child psychiatrist become the oldest woman in Britain to have a baby.
Dr Patricia Rashbrook of Lewes, East Sussex, and her husband John Farrant, 60, travelled abroad to get IVF treatment.
The oldest woman in the world to give birth is thought to be Adriana Iliescu, from Romania, who had a daughter called Eliza Maria in January last year at the age of 66.
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