Psychiatrist Patricia Rashbrook has sparked outrage by becoming Britain's oldest mother-to-be. Mike Laycock examines the reaction in North Yorkshire to her decision to become pregnant at the grand old age of 62.

Patricia Turgoose was only a week off her 45th birthday when she gave birth to her third child, Liz.

Now in her 60s, with her daughter having celebrated her 18th birthday last November, she said the unexpected and unplanned late pregnancy and motherhood never really caused her any problems.

"It was nice with all three, but I seemed to enjoy it even more with the third one," said Patricia, of Tadcaster, who did not even realise she was pregnant until a few weeks before the birth.

"I seemed to have more time - and people were always asking to help. People said: 'Wow, at your age!' but I said: 'Yes, what's wrong with that? We are both healthy and fit to look after her'."

But didn't those nights of broken sleep leave her, a woman already in her mid-40s, totally exhausted?

"It didn't seem to bother me. But I managed to get her sleeping through pretty early - she had a feed at 10pm and slept through until 5am or 6am."

Given her own happy experiences, perhaps it is no surprise that Patricia does not condemn her namesake Patricia Rashbrook for getting pregnant at 62.

"I admit that at 63 it does seem a bit old, but if she is fit and healthy, why not?" she said.

"She doesn't look like 62 - she looks absolutely fabulous. And it won't cause anyone else any harm."

But Heather Causnett, a 72-year-old grandmother from Escrick, takes a rather different view.

"I was totally amazed when I heard about it," she said.

She said grandparents enjoyed having their grandchildren to stay, but felt a sense of relief when they handed them back over to their parents.

"They feel they need a week to get over it," she said.

"And what about the baby?" she asked, questioning whether it was fair for a child if his mother was unable to take an active role in bringing the child up, or died before it reached adulthood.

Adrian Evans, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at York Hospital, has concerns about the medical implications of a woman becoming pregnant late in life. "It is not something one should enter into lightly," he said, warning that there were increased risks both for the mother and for the unborn baby.

For the mother, there was a greater danger of calcium depletion, putting her at risk of osteoporosis, causing fragile bones, and of pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure), while the baby was at risk of being delivered before full term and of failing to thrive while in the womb.

He added that in 15 years as an obstetrician, the oldest pregnancy he had dealt with was that of a 52-year-old woman, who had conceived spontaneously and had fortunately given birth without mishap.

Happy to give life...

Patricia Rashbrook, a 62-year-old consultant child psychiatrist from Sussex, will be 63 when she becomes Britain's oldest mother.

She is seven months' pregnant after treatment by the controversial Italian embryologist, Severino Antinori, in the former Soviet Union, where fertility treatment is largely unregulated. In the UK, fertility doctors tend not to treat women beyond the age of 45 or so, beyond which they are generally unable to produce viable eggs of their own.

Critics have accused her of selfishness and expressed concerns for the child's long-term welfare as it grows up with two parents already over 60.

But she and her husband, 61-year-old John Farrant, have defended their actions, saying a "great deal of thought had gone into planning and providing for the child's present and future well-being, medically, socially and materially. This has not been an endeavour undertaken lightly or without great courage."

Dr Rashbrook added: "We are very happy to have given life to an already much-loved baby."

Updated: 09:27 Monday, May 08, 2006