# Motherhood: record for age difference between oldest and youngest child? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2015, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479 "2015-04-12T09:55:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/1 "2015-04-12T09:55:41Z")
I’m reading a [story in a German newspaper](http://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article139428177/Berliner-Lehrerin-erwartet-mit-65-Jahren-Vierlinge.html) about a 65 years-old teacher from Berlin, Germany who has learned that she is pregnant and expecting quadruplets. What’s remarkable about this story is that this is not the result of fertility treatment, in fact it isn’t even a planned pregnancy since this lady was shocked when her doctor broke her the news. She already has 13 children and 7 grand-children. Her oldest daughter is 44 years old. I wonder if this has to be considered a world record. What’s the biggest known (and well documented) age difference between two children born to the same mother? ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/2 "2015-04-12T10:00:26Z")
Correction: There was indeed fertility treatment involved. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/3 "2015-04-12T10:23:59Z")
There is a case where a woman had a baby at 5. She suffered from precocious puberty and was raped. There are cases where women had babies at 57 where there were apparently no artificial means used. So it’s theoretically possible for there to be a gap of 52 years between children: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_youngest\_birth\_mothers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_birth_mothers) > **[Pregnancy over age 50](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy_over_age_50)** > > Pregnancy over the age of 50 has, over recent years, become possible for more women, and more easily achieved for many, due to recent advances in assisted reproductive technology, in particular egg donation. Typically, a woman's fecundity ends with menopause, which, by definition, is 12 consecutive months without having had any menstrual flow at all. During perimenopause, the menstrual cycle and the periods become irregular and eventually stop altogether, but even when periods are still regular... ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/4 "2015-04-12T10:53:37Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There are cases where women had babies at 57 where there were apparently no artificial means used. This lady from Berlin had her most recent child 10 years ago when she was 55 years-old, and that was indeed “naturally”, according to the article. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/5 "2015-04-12T11:25:33Z")
The German lady is also using donated sperm and eggs according the the article I read. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/6 "2015-04-12T11:59:51Z")
Yes, that is correct. Precisely defining “mother” is much more complicated than I thought (and than it used to be). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/7 "2015-04-12T16:06:38Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There is a case where a woman had a baby at 5. She suffered from precocious puberty and was raped. There are cases where women had babies at 57 where there were apparently no artificial means used. So it’s theoretically possible for there to be a gap of 52 years between children: > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_youngest\_birth\_mothers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_birth_mothers) > > [Pregnancy over age 50 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy_over_age_50) But these are not the same woman, giving birth at 5 and 57. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/8 "2015-04-12T17:19:04Z")
No, they aren’t, and I didn’t say that they were. I was saying that there is a case where a woman (with no artificial aids) gave birth at 5 and a case where another woman (with no artificial aids) gave birth at 57. I’m saying that it’s theoretically possible then for there to be a gap of 52 years. Do you not understand what the word “theoretically” means? Now, it may be true that a women who reaches puberty early also reaches menopause early, so both early pregnancies and late ones could never happen to a single woman. However, let me point out that the woman who had her baby at 5 had her second baby at 42 or 43, so there’s no reason to think that the ages of puberty and menopause are correlated. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/9 "2015-04-12T18:56:19Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > No, they aren’t, and I didn’t say that they were. I was saying that there is a case where a woman (with no artificial aids) gave birth at 5 and a case where another woman (with no artificial aids) gave birth at 57. I’m saying that it’s theoretically possible then for there to be a gap of 52 years. Do you not understand what the word “theoretically” means? But that does not answer the OP’s question of “What’s the biggest **known** ( **and well documented** ) age difference between two children born to the same mother?” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/10 "2015-04-12T19:30:33Z")
Sorry, I misread the OP. Incidentally, I notice that this woman is not listed in the Wikipedia entry on pregnancies over 50. What’s the reputation of _Die Welt_, where the article linked to in the OP appeared? Is it a reliable source? ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/11 "2015-04-13T05:12:25Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Sorry, I misread the OP. Incidentally, I notice that this woman is not listed in the Wikipedia entry on pregnancies over 50. What’s the reputation of _Die Welt_, where the article linked to in the OP appeared? Is it a reliable source? This story has been reported by a number of news outlets, there is no reason to assume that they made it up. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/12 "2015-04-13T07:05:38Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/13 "2015-04-13T11:26:43Z")
I haven’t looked it up, but I would guess that 35 years could happen. A woman has a child at 15 and her latest at 50. If the question was about fatherhood I think the gap could extend to 55 years or more. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/14 "2015-04-13T11:58:24Z")
According to [ask.com](http://ask.com) [http://www.ask.com/education/record-biggest-gap-age-between-siblings-31be8299b41ac280](http://www.ask.com/education/record-biggest-gap-age-between-siblings-31be8299b41ac280) > [@](#): > > The Guinness Book of Records 2002 Edition reports that the largest age gap between two siblings is 41 years. Elizabeth Ann Buttle gave birth to her daughter in 1956 when she was age 19 and then later gave birth to her son in 1997 when she was 60. > [@](#): > > The average human female reaches peak fertility around age 25. However, most women are capable of naturally conceiving until age 41. The oldest woman to ever give birth was Rajo Devi, who had her daughter at age 70. She conceived through the use of a donor egg artificially inseminated with her husband’s sperm. > [@](#): > > According to Today I Found Out, the youngest girl to ever have her menstrual cycle was Lina Medina at the age of 2.5. She was only 5 when she gave birth to her first child. This was possible due to a condition called precocious puberty ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/15 "2015-04-13T12:26:08Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I haven’t looked it up, but I would guess that 35 years could happen. A woman has a child at 15 and her latest at 50. If the question was about fatherhood I think the gap could extend to 55 years or more. I know a woman with a sister who is 29 years her senior. Her mom had the sister in highschool, then used birth control until she believed herself post menopausal. Then “surprise!” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/16 "2015-04-13T13:35:50Z")
There are certainly cases of 12-year-old fathers. There is one case of a 96-year-old claiming to be the father of his wife’s child. That would make a gap of 84 years which could theoretically be possible for a father. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/17 "2015-04-13T13:45:09Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Correction: There was indeed fertility treatment involved. Of course. Any reporting otherwise I would consider unreliable. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherhood-record-for-age-difference-between-oldest-and-youngest-child/717479/18 "2015-04-13T13:48:26Z")
My grandfather was born in 1898. If I recall correctly, his oldest brother was born in the mid 1870s (1876?). And in addition to that, he (my grandfather) had two younger sisters who were born around 1905 (plus/minus a couple of years). There were 12 living siblings in total.