Indian 72-year-old Gives Birth To First Child Through IVF

An elderly Indian couple finally managed to conceive and bring their first child into the world.

The baby was the result of two years of fertility treatment at Haryana, India. Daljinder Kaur, 72, and Arman Singh, 79, subjected themselves to a couple of years of fertility treatment, giving hope to other couples hoping to conceive and seeking out the best IVF clinic they can.

Armaan, the baby boy, was born a month ago. The parents succeeded with their own egg and sperm, following a couple of unsuccessful attempts. Armaan was small as a newborn, with a birth weight of just 4.4 lbs, yet was "healthy and hearty," said the National Fertility and Test Tube center.

The Indian couple faced a lot of ridicule in India, where infertility is considered a curse from God. Hence, the couple who had been together for 46 years had to face a lot of flak and almost gave up.

The more serious problem was Daljinder's age. Though she surmised that she was 70 years old as she did not have a birth certificate, the clinic said that she was 72. However, experts and even the general public felt that she was too old to become pregnant or raise a child.

"There are ethical issues. In my opinion, it is unfair to do such a procedure on a woman who is over 60," fertility expert Sunil Jindal said.

"The sheer fact that a woman in her 70s has to carry the weight of a child in her womb for nine months is stressful," Jindal added. "Then the question comes---how are the parents going to look after the baby? That is also quite a task."

Gynaecologist Anshu Jindal, based in Meerut, agreed that she too had tried to talk the woman into giving up the trial.

"According to me, it is not an age to have a baby. It will take a toll," Jindal said.

However, the couple was determined to go through it and get the child successfully.

"God heard our prayers. My life feels complete now. I am looking after the baby all by myself, I feel so full of energy. My husband is also very caring and helps me as much as he can," Daljinder said.

"I used to feel empty. There was so much loneliness."

Daljinder can probably take comfort from the fact that she is not the first in India to give birth at this age. In 2008, a 72-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh also relied on IVF to give birth to twins.