Founder of the Geriatric Mum Blog Lucy Baker has been left fuming after a BBC broadcaster claimed it is "selfish" for women to have children over the age of 40.
This comes after BBC presenter Rachel Burden has revealed that she felt selfish for getting pregnant at the age of 41.
Speaking to GB News, Baker explained that she disagreed with this statement entirely and felt that there are "many different reasons" that women wait till later in life to start a family.
She explained: "I had my first baby when I was 34 years old, my second when I was 37 and my third at 43. That was the right time for me, it wasn't a selfish move it was a family move.
Founder of the Geriatric Mum Blog Lucy Baker fumed over the comments
GB News/PA
Host Pip Tomson defended: "Well, to be fair to her, she [the broadcaster] wasn't saying that it is selfish to be an older mum per se.
"It was more about the fact that she was already a mother of three and at the age that she was, wanted to extend her family further into having a fourth child."
Baker said: "I do see where she is coming from, but I think that the word selfish is wrong. The way that women are branded, they can't do anything right these days.
"Through this geriatric mum journey that I've been on, I have met loads of older women and older mums over the years.
"There is never one reason why women have babies later on in life. There are so many different reasons behind the scenes. So to just make a sweeping statement that women are being selfish having babies later I think is wrong."
She added: "Some people don't have the choice to have children in their 30s or even their 20s. When they found out, I was pregnant with my third everyone gave me lots of negativity.
Baker classes herself as an older mother
GB News
"They said things such as 'My God, you're gonna be 47 when the baby starts school. You're gonna be tired, You're gonna feel old', all of that stuff.
"Do you know what? I'm in the best place I've ever been in my life. I'm confident. I'm calm. I'm together and I think it was a brilliant thing.
"I don't in any way, shape or form feel like it was a selfish move."
Rachel Burden, who is now 49, spoke about having her fourth child in her forties earlier this week and revealed that she had a complicated pregnancy after three "straightforward" ones, making the "arrogant assumption" that her next one would be the same.
Rachel made the comments on the Mid Point podcast, remarking that she had already had three children when she became pregnant with her fourth, after discussing the idea at length with her husband, fellow journalist Luke Mendham.
The number of women having babies over 40 has been increasing in recent years – overtaking the number of women under the age of 20 for the first time in 2015, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Pregnancies for over-40s carry a higher risk of complications such as pre-eclampsia, as well as hypertension and diabetes.