This week the world has been amazed by the story of a German pensioner who is pregnant with quadruplets at the age of 65.
Annegret Raunigk, from Berlin, is already a mother of 13 but decided to expand her family further after her youngest child told her: 'I want to have a little brother or sister.'
Someone who understands Annegret's position well is Britain's older mother, Sue Tollefsen, from Essex.
She gave birth to her only child, Freya, in 2008 when she was aged 57.
Now seven, Freya has often asked her mother if she could have a brother or sister and as a result, Sue revealed that she did consider it.
'Freya went through a period of wanting a sibling and I looked into fertility treatment to have another child but because I've had health issues I decided not to push my luck,' she said on today's This Morning.
The retired special needs teacher said 'in a way' she thinks Annegret is 'selfish' for having more babies at her age - despite leaving motherhood till late in life herself.
She said: 'She has 13 children already, in my case I hadn't had any. But if she has thought about it and weighed up the positive and negative and said "this is the right thing for me" then that's her decision. I don't sit in judgement of anyone else.'
Now aged 64, Sue told presenters Phillip Schofield and Amanda Holden that she never intended to leave parenthood so late.
But after her father passed away, she became a carer for her poorly mother until her death in 2002, while juggling her challenging job.
'I had other things in my life, looking after my mum and having a responsible job, I didn't think I could handle being mum then,' she explained.
'I always hoped when I was younger I would have a child but thought I had missed boat.'
Then Sue met Nick, a warehouse manager, when she was 51 and he was 11 years her junior.
She warned him she was menopausal and they would be unlikely to start a family together.
But after researching fertility treatments, they were able to conceive on their third IVF attempt after getting a donor egg fertilised with Nick's sperm and implanted in Sue's womb.
Sue was delighted when daughter Freya was born although she admits she now wishes she could have had her sooner.
She said: 'I don't regret having her but I do regret not having her when I was younger.
'The journey I have taken with her over the last seven years has been fantastic but what saddens me sometimes is when I look at her and look at myself I wonder how much time I have left with her.
'I'm hoping I can make 80 when she'll be 22.'
Sue is now a single parent after splitting up with Nick amicably in 2010.
She said the pressures of being new parents took its toll on their relationship.
'We grew apart because when you have a child your focus is on the child 24/7. The partner may feel pushed out or carries on living their own life as before, while you don't. My life took totally different turn.'
As a result of her experience, Sue believes the cut-off for IVF treatment should be age 60.
Following Sue's appearance on the show, This Morning asked viewers to phone in with their views on older parents.
Brenda called into urge older parents to reassure their children about their health.
She said her mother had her when she was in her fifties - and so was the same age as her friends' grandparents. She said throughout her childhood she felt terrified that her mother was going to die.
Meanwhile Rachel, who has had six children between the ages of 18 and 40, said she's noticed a difference in her energy levels since having her youngest child at an older age.
'It's hard work, I don't know how women in their Fifties cope,' she said.
But another caller, Andrea, who had her fourth baby at the age of 41, said she's fitter and healthier now than when she had her first baby in her 20s.
