# World's oldest mother - is the child her biological child? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860 "2007-01-28T19:50:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/1 "2007-01-28T19:50:16Z")
There was an article today in the news that the world’s oldest mom (67?) lied about her age to the fertility clinic she visited. The article mentioned she used in-vitro fertilization. My question is, did they use her own egg for this procedure? If not, why would someone go through all that trouble instead of just adopting? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/2 "2007-01-28T20:16:08Z")
[QUOTE=Rusalka] If not, why would someone go through all that trouble instead of just adopting? [/QUOTE] You could ask that about any female that uses donated eggs which is a fairly common procedure these days. Beats me although I suppose there are some psychological complexities going on as well as the desire to cheat some of the baggage associated with pure adoption. It would also allow the woman to have some say in the father whether it be anonymous but graded donation or someone she chooses directly. I don’t know if she used donated eggs but one would guess that she would have had to. The specific facts may be confidential. ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/3 "2007-01-28T20:55:09Z")
Why would she have had to? It seems that Annie Liebowitz had a biological child at 52…that’s not 67, but still. Just wondering if there’s a procedure that fertility clinics are using to induce ovulation in post-menopausal women. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/4 "2007-01-28T21:20:58Z")
“If not, why would someone go through all that trouble instead of just adopting?” Adopting actually isnt all that easy in some countries and there are often age limits as well, 67 would be well over the line. And many people want to bear the child themselves, the biological DNA isnt the important bit so much as the bonding that comes with childbirth, etc, ie rearing the child from step one rather than from 6 months old on or the like. Otara ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/5 "2007-01-28T21:44:20Z")
My main question is if it’s her biological child, or if it’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/6 "2007-01-28T22:01:15Z")
[QUOTE=Rusalka] Why would she have had to? It seems that Annie Liebowitz had a biological child at 52…that’s not 67, but still. [/QUOTE] Lets look at the facts. 1. An advanced age went to a fertility clinic with the specific hope of having a child. Fertility clinics offer donated eggs as one of their choices and that choice is common in older females. 2. Fertility in females is not linear. It stops dropping off rapidly in females starting by age 30 and most females are done by age 40. 52 years old is at the upper end of what is possible for the tinniest percentage of women. 67 years old would be several standard deviation out meaning that Liebowitz may be say, a 1 - 100 million shot while someone at 67 may be a 1 in 100 billion shot statistically speaking. That is the way that statistical curves work (numbers are made up but educated based on the fact that we know of no other women that have naturally conceived at 60 let alone 67). 3. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/7 "2007-01-28T22:08:17Z")
[QUOTE=Rusalka] Why would she have had to? It seems that Annie Liebowitz had a biological child at 52…that’s not 67, but still. [/QUOTE] Lets look at the facts. 1. An advanced age went to a fertility clinic with the specific hope of having a child. Fertility clinics offer donated eggs as one of their choices and that choice is common in older females. 2. Fertility in females is not linear. It stops dropping off rapidly in females starting by age 30 and most females are done by age 40. 52 years old is at the upper end of what is possible for the tinniest percentage of women. 67 years old would be several standard deviation out meaning that Liebowitz may be say, a 1 - 100 million shot while someone at 67 may be a 1 in 100 billion shot statistically speaking. That is the way that statistical curves work (numbers are made up but educated based on the fact that we know of no other women that have naturally conceived at 60 let alone 67). 3. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/8 "2007-01-28T22:30:14Z")
[QUOTE=Rusalka] Why would she have had to? It seems that Annie Liebowitz had a biological child at 52…that’s not 67, but still. Just wondering if there’s a procedure that fertility clinics are using to induce ovulation in post-menopausal women. [/QUOTE] I thought a woman is born with x number of eggs. When they’re all gone, no more fertility. A woman can still have eggs at 52; but I would think they’re beyond gone by the time you’re 67. She could have had a frozen embryo left over from the late 80s I suppose. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/9 "2007-01-29T00:13:00Z")
In the pre-fertility-drug, pre-implanted-embryo days, the oldest attested mother was 57 years old. That’s probably just about the oldest possible age for a woman to naturally conceive and bear a baby. A 67-year-old mother for a naturally-conceived baby is way beyond anything ever attested. ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/10 "2007-01-29T02:24:42Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I thought a woman is born with x number of eggs. When they’re all gone, no more fertility. [/QUOTE] That is incorrect from what I’ve read, menopause has nothing to do with the number of oocytes you have left. If it were true, then menopause would be delayed by birth control, which prevents ovulation. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/11 "2007-01-29T03:06:45Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I thought a woman is born with x number of eggs. When they’re all gone, no more fertility. A woman can still have eggs at 52; but I would think they’re beyond gone by the time you’re 67. She could have had a frozen embryo left over from the late 80s I suppose. [/QUOTE] Women ARE born with X number of “eggs” but they don’t run out, as your post seems to suggest. They just become non-viable. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/12 "2007-01-29T05:37:39Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I thought a woman is born with x number of eggs. When they’re all gone, no more fertility. A woman can still have eggs at 52; but I would think they’re beyond gone by the time you’re 67. [/QUOTE] Your average human ovary at puberty contains roughly 400,000 eggs. Two ovaries and one egg a month would get you 66,000 years of fertility. ---
**Author:** ![Dottygumdrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Dottygumdrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dottygumdrop)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/13 "2007-01-29T07:34:51Z")
It says in [this article](http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=168669&Sn=WORL&IssueID=29315) that: > [@](#): > > She chose donor eggs from a “pretty, brown-haired 18-year-old” and sperm from a blonde, blue-eyed Italian American. The article goes on to say that she had hormone treatments to start having periods for the first time in 18 years. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/14 "2007-01-29T08:26:40Z")
[QUOTE=Rusalka] There was an article today in the news that the world’s oldest mom (67?) lied about her age to the fertility clinic she visited. The article mentioned she used in-vitro fertilization. My question is, did they use her own egg for this procedure? **If not, why would someone go through all that trouble instead of just adopting?** [/QUOTE] She is a publicity seeker, otherwise she would have continued lying about her age - and we would never have heard of her. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/15 "2007-01-29T10:59:48Z")
[QUOTE=LifeOnWry] Women ARE born with X number of “eggs” but they don’t run out, as your post seems to suggest. They just become non-viable. [/QUOTE] Thanks for that. Someone told me an old ovary looks like a chewed-up piece of gum. Any truth to that? ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-mother-is-the-child-her-biological-child/389860/16 "2007-01-29T18:32:58Z")
All ovaries look like that. Don’t you remember your grade school text book? 🙂 My OP isn’t as dumb as it looks at first glance; I was aware that a woman has about 400,000 gametes at birth, and so I thought maybe fertility clinics had discovered a way to induce ovulation in a post-menopausal woman. I can’t find any information on what happens to the unused gametes at menopause. If they’re still there couldn’t the female be induced to ovulate with the right hormones?