Baby Angel with her mother Shammi Pal. Photo / ABC
Baby Angel with her mother Shammi Pal. Photo / ABC
A Melbourne woman who became a new mum at 61 faces relentless criticism and fears her child will be taken away from her.
Shammi Pal's daughter, Angel, who is seven months old, was conceived through a donor egg and sperm at a fertility clinic in India.
Ms Pal told ABC programme 7.30 she was too old to receive IVF in Australia as the cut-off age is 52. She did not meet her husband, Lucas Arora, until they were in their 40s and they were a childless couple that dreamt of having a baby.
While motherhood is meant to be a joyous time for couples, Ms Pal has problems not many new mothers are faced with, and struggles with the constant backlash from her being an older mother, news.com.au reported.
"They thought you could be sick in the head to be having a baby at this age, or really silly, or this could be the biggest crime you have ever done to have a baby at this age," Ms Pal told 7.30.
The fertility specialist who helped Ms Pal realise her dream, Dr Mehul Damani, told 7.30 a number of women in their 60s were giving birth to babies.
"I think every lady in the world has a dream of having her own baby from her own body and that is what Shammi Pal wanted," he said.
Baby Angel with her father Lucas Arora. Photo / ABC
Ms Pal had to have a caesarean, despite trying for a natural birth, and she claims staff at Melbourne's Mercy Hospital told her she shouldn't have a baby at her age.
She had a difficult birth and doctors needed to operate on Angel.
Ms Pal said following the birth, medical staff kept her away from her baby and child protection authorities were investigating whether Ms Pal and her husband were able to look after the baby.
"I started to feel quite queer that something is going on and they are not letting me go near my baby," she told 7.30.
"There were people marching in and out of my hospital room, social workers and all these other people."
Shammi Pal said she had been judged for having a baby at the age of 61. Photo / ABC
Ms Pal said she was shocked because everybody else who had a baby was able to go home and raise the child, but it wasn't the same case for her because of her age.
"We are highly educated professionals, we are healthy, we are capable."
Mercy Hospital said staff tailored their care for the individual needs of each patient and every year, without prejudice, looked after thousands of women and their babies from a variety of cultural backgrounds, religions and age groups.
It would not comment Ms Pal's case due to patient privacy. The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services said child protection investigated all reports that involved concerns about a child's welfare.
