50-year-old mom plans to have another baby against her 17 and 25-year-old daughters' wishes: 'They said that if I give birth, they will never consider this child their brother or sister.'

Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor

Jun 5, 2026 12:30 PM EDT

Are they being unfair to their mother?

Doctors frequently call expecting mothers in their mid to late 30s "geriatric," but as far as moms can go, they are not geriatric at all. Some women get pregnant in their late 40s and early 50s, and that's a much riskier time in your life to have a brand new baby, both to your health and your life. It's hard enough to adjust to having a new baby when you're a 30-year-old mom. It's so much harder when you're much more tired and sore than you were when you had your first kid.

Adding a new baby to the family dynamic can be very hard on the existing children. This is true whether the kids are 2 or 22, but the latter is a unique challenge. Adult children can be much more immature about their parents having a new baby than literal toddlers are. They feel like they're being replaced because they no longer need their parents for support anymore. They might be confused about why their middle-aged mother wants to "start over" and have a baby again, even though all of her babies are out of the house. At the end of the day, it's not the adult children's decision whether it's a good idea for their mother to have another baby.

The mom in this story is struggling with the lack of support she's getting from her adult children about her geriatric pregnancy. They don't like that she's having a baby at her advanced age, nor do they like the man she's having it with. The mom is starting to wonder whether she's the villain for going through with it.

via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

_{A model portraying a middle-aged woman who thought she was done having children 17 years ago, but who recently discovered she is pregnant with her 3rd child at age 50.}
Am I the bad guy for deciding to have a baby even though my daughters begged me not to?

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_{A representation of teenagers working a summer job as lifeguards in order to pay for their extra expenses without relying solely on their parents.}
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_{A baby model who was rejected by his siblings before he was even born.}