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Australia’s oldest mum gives birth at 63

A Tasmanian mother has made history, 7 news reports, by becoming the oldest woman in the country to give birth.

She is 63, and her partner is 78.

The unidentified couple welcomed their premature baby girl at the Frances Perry House Private Hospital in Melbourne on Monday.

The baby was conceived through IVF overseas, using a donated embryo.

The decision to undergo IVF at age 63 has drawn criticism from Melbourne-based IVF expert Gab Kovacs, of Monash University, who said “responsible” IVF clinics would deny fertility treatment to women older than 53.

“Our bodies weren’t designed to have children in our 60s.”
Gab Kovacs

“I don’t think any responsible IVF unit in Australia would treat someone of that age, and it’s not a standard of medicine I would condone,” Professor Kovacs told News Corp newspapers.

“That child will need looking after for 20 years, and there’s a possibility she won’t be able to do that.”

The report said the couple had tried several times to have children, including several failed in-vitro fertilisation attempts.

The baby was delivered by cesarean section, and both mother and child were reportedly recovering well.

The birth has made Australian history, with the previous record set in 2010 by a 60-year-old woman.

Romanian woman Adriana Iliescu became the world’s oldest mum in 2010 when she gave birth at 66 after undergoing IVF using a donor egg and donor sperm.

Mrs Iliescu’s record was beaten in when Indian woman Daljinder Kaur gave birth at 70 after two years of fertility treatment.

Adriana Iliescu 72, with daughter Eliza Maria Bogadana Iliescu 5.

Adriana Iliescu 72, with daughter Eliza Maria Bogadana Iliescu 5. Photo: Getty.

– with AAP

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