A study carried out at the University of Southern California claims that women in their fifties cope just as well as those in their thirties or forties, when they become new mothers.
The research looked at 150 women who had become new mothers through fertility treatment with donated eggs, between 1992 and 2004.
The women had to log their experiences and the results showed that even women in their fifties did not seem to experience increased stress or physical impairment when caring for a young child.
The research raises interesting new questions, as one of the biggest criticisms of a British doctor who had a baby in the UK at the age of 62 (in the summer of 2006) was that she would not have the energy to deal with a young child.
This new study has been greeted with interest, though other health experts have pointed out that the study does not take into account the experience of the child, growing up with older parents. The researchers themselves also concede that many of the women in their study were sharing the new parenting experience with partners who were younger than them.
In the UK, the current NHS policy only offers funded fertility treatment to women under 40 years old.
