Blimey! Victoria Coren Mitchell has had a second baby at 51

[Sidebeforeself]

Congratulations to her. I caught up with OC last night and thought she looked pregnant but dismissed it when i remembered she’s around my age. Then i saw the announcement today. I’m knackered just thinking about it!

Well, she might be if she has to look after a parent with dementia in her early 20s?

I know this will bring a flurry of 'anything can happen at any age' posts, but IMO it's selfish to have a baby this old, and I'd say that for a man as well. You're less likely to be able to support them past a certain age, more likely to die when they're young.

I had my first child at 32 so technically and legally I am old enough to be her granny.
I don't think it's that unusual.

Well, she might be if she has to look after a parent with dementia in her early 20s?

Why would she have to look after them?

I take it with donor eggs?

Cause I read that most clinics won't advise using one's own after 45 or maybe even earlier.

Of course there are always outliers.

This was my dad’s age when I was born. I was nothing but blessed to have such an exceptional father. Your faux pity is wasted.

All responsible parents have a will and ensure arrangements are in place for care should they die before their children are adults. It’s a foolish parent who does otherwise, regardless of age.

Plenty of well of women of that age will have frozen their eggs when younger.

I will turn 50 next year and still have as much strength and energy as I did when I was 25. It makes me curious when I hear people in their 40s and even 30s here saying they’re exhausted. Maybe it will hit me when menopause hits. I hope not, I love being full of energy. I wouldn’t want a baby now because my two are just growing up (11 and 8) and I couldn’t go back there and do it all over again. But if I was in their position with one 8 year old and I wanted another child I would absolutely do it.

It's an easy way to reconnect with people. I went to school with a few of the grannies a the school gates at pick-up time.

I was a carer for a parent in my 20s. It’s life. I can’t imagine what would make you think it’s easier to be a carer when you’re older and have young children yourself.

But of course as it’s not misogyny you’re revealing here, when I search your previous posts I’ll find similar concerns raised on threads about older dads.

Completely agree, many people on MN have extremely poor health in their thirties. I assume they have either chronic conditions such as autoimmune conditions or morbid obesity or have been extremely sedentary.

I don't think the 'older parents' thing counts for multi-millionaires.
See Jagger at 80 still knocking them out...

Well just because the parents in your family started experiencing health issues in their 70s doesn’t mean that nobody should have a child at 50. My parents are both 76 and have no major health issues and my PIL lived to 92 and 86. Conversely my sister in law died at 46 leaving her 13 year old daughter without a mother. Even if they do start having health problems it’s not any different to any parent of any age that could develop any illness. Good luck to them.

Congratulations to them I hope she and the baby are doing well and healthy.

I certainly don't feel sorry for the child, she's been born into a loving family. I'm more inclined to feel sorry for Victoria going through pregnancy in her 50s!

Predictably? She died relatively young in that case!

She’s got an older sister, her dad is a couple of years younger than her mum, and they are multi-millionaires, so presume care will be bought in. Caring is unlikely to fall to baby June when she’s a young woman.

I’m 51. Still ovulating and having a period every month. I got pregnant very easily with both DC and tbh I’m pretty sure I could get pregnant now 🤷‍♀️. I have zero desire to do so now - just responding to all the posts asking about whether they would need egg donors / surrogates.

Wow, how lovely for them.

I am amazed that news hasn't leaked out about it, given that people must have seen her presenting various shows - HIGNFY not long ago etc, and they are also very recognisable people so would be noticed out and about. Maybe she didn't show that much until very recently.

Predictably? So we're expecting to keel over in our 60s? Jesus. I didn't know that was a given.

Give over. Snide comments like these are ageist.

This wasn’t unusual when I was a child, partly because of lack of contraception I suppose, but more likely because a lot of couples delayed marriage and kids because the father was away fighting WW2. I had one friend whose mother was 51 when she had her and another whose mum was 53!! Both were adored only children and had very happy childhoods. In the first case the father died in his seventies and the mum lived to ninety, in the second both parents lived to 98 and died within a week of each other.
I think older parents are great .
I see some truly terrible parenting by younger parents. Screaming into their babies’ faces to ‘stop fucking crying’. Just tragic.

I've said I'd say the exact same about dads?

Sorry you don't agree with me. I'm allowed to have a different opinion to you. That also is life.

Some sad ageist comments on here. June will live her life (financially privileged) like all of us - we can't predict her future although apparently some people on here have a crystal ball.

A lot of people are talking about donor eggs but it’s quite possible that if they had Barbara by IVF, June is an embryo that was frozen and not used at the time.

Somerset, 10 years ago. A lot of people where I live start having babies in their late teens. The 2 next oldest women in the maternity ward with me were both having their third babies after a big age gap. They were both in their late twenties. The other 3 were teenagers. I had my eldest aged 24 and there were some mums my age, some younger and some older in his class at school. By the time my youngest started school I wasn't the oldest mum in the class but definitely in the oldest 5. The oldest mum is only a few months older than me. Lots of mums where I live have lived in this town all their lives and their families have too for several generations. Lots of them went to the same school that their children do.

Ok - if you're going to be disingenuous about it.

Imagine she's 20 and her and her older sister (?) have to make the hard decision to put their parent in a home. They have plenty of money to pay for it, does that make it easier to do so? Emotionally? Does having lots of money make it emotionally easier to visit someone that might not just have the type of dementia that means they don't remember stuff, but the type that makes them angry and upset all the time? And belligerent towards the children that love them so much?

Or maybe everything is fine and her parents live till over 100 with nary an ingrown toenail between them. Either way, IMO it's selfish to have children at that age.

Somerset, 10 years ago. A lot of people where I live start having babies in their late teens.

But surely you’re aware there’s a whole world outside Somerset & having babies in your teens isn’t particular common?