61-pound Baby or 61-year-old Mother?

Did a 61-year-old woman give birth to a 61-pound baby? Also, is the 61-year-old woman the oldest woman to give birth? Have internet rumor mills gotten the story completely wrong?

Actually, a 61-year-old woman did give birth, not to a 61-pound baby, but to her own grandchild.

61-year-old Grandmother in Tokyo Gives Birth to Grandchild

According to the Associated Press, a 61-year-old Japanese woman did give birth to her grandchild. This was made possible by using one of her daughter's donated eggs. The daughter had no uterus and was unable to get pregnant, so her mother became her surrogate mother for the pregnancy.

The clinic which performed the procedure is being close-lipped about the details. It is unknown why the daughter didn't have a uterus, when the baby was born, and the gender of the child.

This situation is rare in Japan, although not illegal. It has been reported that both the 61-year-old surrogate mother and the baby are in good health. The 61-year-old grandmother is believed to be the oldest surrogate mother in Japan; however, she is not the oldest woman in the world to give birth.

Other Elderly Mothers in the News

In 2005, Adriana Iliescu got pregnant at the age of 66 and gave birth to a girl, Eliza Maria, on Jan. 18, 2006. She was 67 when she had her daughter. Her pregnancy was made possible by in vitro fertilization. She gave birth to twins; however one died shortly after her birth.

In July 2008, the 70-year-old Indian woman Omkari Panwar gave birth to twins who weighed just two pounds each. The father is 77 years old. The babies were born via Cesarean section, and they were conceived in the hope she would birth a male heir to their farm. The elderly couple already have two adult daughters and five grandchildren.

American Woman Surrogated Her Grandchildren

A 58-year-old grandmother gave birth to her grandchildren, according to a news report in August 2007. Ann Stolper gave birth to twin girls, Itai and Maya. The children's mother, Caryn Chomsky, was unable to have children due to cervical cancer.

Is there a 61-pound baby?

With the internet rumors claiming the 61-year-old woman gave birth to a 61-pound baby, is there really a 61-pound baby out there? In Barranquilla, Colombia, an 11-month-old baby does indeed weigh 61-pounds, which is the average weight for an 8 year old. The boy, who likely suffers from an endocrine system problem, began growing at age 2 months.

Sources:

"61-Year-Old Woman Gives Birth In Japan", LiveScience.com, http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/080821-ap-old-birth.html

"Oldest Woman to Give Birth Celebrates Daughter's First Birthday", ABCnews.com, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=1516880

"Oldest woman to give birth (67) has twin girls", TheMercury.co.za, http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=284&fArticleId=2375535

"70-year-old woman becomes world's oldest mother with birth of twins", NYDailyNews.com, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/07/04/2008-07-04_70yearold_woman_becomes_worlds_oldest_mo.html

"'I Gave Birth to My Grandkids'", ABCnews.com, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=3458151&page=1

"Doctors studying mysterious 61 pound baby", KARE11.com, http://www.kare11.com/news/national/national_article.aspx?storyid=523266&catid=18