Octuplets' granny hits out at their mom

Los Angeles - The mother of a woman who gave birth to octuplets Monday criticized her daughter's decision to have all eight children as "unconscionable" and questioned whether she could properly care for them.

In an interview posted on the radaronline.com website and broadcast on US television, Angela Suleman said she was "very upset" after learning her daughter Nadya had implanted multiple embryos despite already having six children.

Suleman, 33, gave birth to octuplets on January 26 in a case which triggered criticism from experts and an investigation by the California Medical Board.

Suleman's mother, a retired teacher, said although she would do everything she could to care for her grandchildren, she was unhappy that her daughter had undergone in vitro fertilization to add to her brood.

"To have them all is unconscionable to me. She really, really has no idea what she's doing to her children and to me," she said.

"How she's going to cope, I don't know," Angela Suleman said. "I'm really tired of taking care of the six children and need her to think about how she'll provide for all these children."

Angela Suleman said her unemployed daughter hadn't worked since she became a mother and that the three-bedroom home they shared was already close to being overwhelmed, even though the octuplets remain in hospital.

"I'm struggling to look after her six," she said. "We had to put in bunk beds, feed them in shifts and there's children's clothing piled all over the house."

The grandmother also took issue with her daughter's suggestion that she had wanted a huge family because of an unhappy childhood.

"We raised her in a loving family and her father always spoiled her," Angela Suleman said.

A spokesperson for Nadya Suleman, Michael Furtney, said his client declined to respond directly to her mothers comments. "She's going to keep her own counsel at this time," Furtney told AFP.

The spokesperson did however take issue with Radar's depiction of the Suleman home as being in disarray, saying his client could not be held responsible. "Nadya hasn't lived in the house for two months," he said.

The Medical Board of California said Friday it was probing the octuplets birth "to see if we can substantiate a violation of the standard of care."

Under guidelines issued by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), a woman Suleman's age should have no more than two embryos implanted.

Experts say multiple-birth babies are often born prematurely - Suleman's octuplets were born nine-and-a-half weeks early - which puts them at significantly greater risk of long-term health problems.

Suleman last week defended her decision to have all eight children in an interview with NBC News, saying "all I wanted was children."

"That's all I ever wanted in my life. Sometimes when we have that dream and that passion, we take risks. And I did. And it turned out perfectly," she said. - AFP



Source : Babynet