A cousin of the woman expecting a child at 62 has described her decision to get pregnant as "mad".

Patricia Rashbrook, a child psychiatrist, of High Street, Lewes, was given IVF treatment by a controversial Italian fertility doctor.

She and her husband John Farrant, 61, have hit back at claims they are irresponsible and selfish by neighbours and pro-life campaigners.

Now it has emerged some of Dr Rashbrook's own family are against the decision.

Her cousin-in-law Valerie Rashbrook, of Ashurst Road, Brighton, said: "I think she's mad. I think my views are the same as what everybody else is thinking.

"I am the same age as Patricia. When I look after my grandchildren I'm tired after ten minutes because of all the mischief they cause.

"I really don't know how she's going to manage looking after a newborn child."

Dr Rashbrook's father Leonard, 93, a former British Gas district manager from Winchester, said: "I met the news with a sense of astonishment.

"I am a little worried by the age question. It certainly is a very bold move. I am sure she knows what she's doing.

"My daughter is a consultant psychiatrist and she has always been very interested in children.

"She already has other children so it's remarkable that she's going to have another at the age of 63.

"At the end of the day it's a family matter. But if this is what she wants, I respect her decision."

Dr Rashbrook, who works for the East Sussex Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services team, run by the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust, flew out to Rome last October for treatment.

Italian doctor Severino Antinori, who runs the private fertility clinic in Rome, first made headlines in 1994 by helping a post-menopausal 63-year-old woman become pregnant with donor eggs and hormones.

He has said in the past he aimed to be the first to produce a baby cloned from an adult.

This will be the first child for Dr Rashbrook with Mr Farrant, who she married in 2003.

Mr Farrant is vice-president of the Sussex Archaeological Society, based in Lewes.

In a joint statement yesterday the couple said: "We wish to emphasise that this has not been an endeavour undertaken lightly or without courage.

"A great deal of thought has been given to planning and providing for the child's present and future well-being, medically, socially and materially.

"We are very happy to have given life to an already much-loved baby and our wish now is to give him the peace and security he needs."

Previously Britain's oldest mother was hill farmer Liz Buttle, from Wales, who was 60 when she gave birth to a son in 1997.

The oldest woman in the world to give birth is thought to be Adriana Iliescu, from Romania, who had a daughter in January 2005 at the age of 66.