Indian mother, 73, admits she is struggling to cope with 11-month-old baby

An Indian woman who gave birth for the first time at the age of 72 has admitted that she is struggling to cope as her health has suffered.

Daljinder Kaur, 73, from Amritsar, in Punjab, northern India, delivered a baby boy named Armaan on 19 April last year, but since the birth she has suffered with a high blood pressure and weakening joints.

"My blood pressure has suffered and I get tired very easily now. I've seen several doctors but they just give me medicines and a diet plan," she explained.

Now eleven months old, Armaan is crawling, and Kaur said she is struggling to keep up with the toddler.

"Since he's been crawling I'm on my hands and knees and it's hard. My body can't take it," she said. "It's been harder than I thought. I'm worried for Armaan. I have to take care of my health but I have to care of Armaan too."

After failing to conceive naturally during their 46-year marriage, Kaur and her 79-year-old husband, Mohinder Singh Gill underwent a successful in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment after seeing help from the National Fertility and Test Tube Baby Centre in the city of Hisar.

The septuagenarian conceived in July 2015 at her third attempt, delivering a 4.4lb healthy baby boy. Yet Armaan Singh still only weighs 15lbs and his health is a source of concern for Kaur.

"He's still underweight," she said. "He's quite thin and diapers for his age don't fit him. He could possibly be thin because I didn't feed him properly. I stopped breastfeeding him at three months as my milk wasn't developing well.

"We've asked doctors if there's any medicine we can give him to increase his weight but they said let him gain weight naturally."

Daljinder accepts that her advanced age at the time of conception has made motherhood difficult.

"I feel exhausted easily and the only time I get to rest is when he falls asleep. My husband and I fall ill frequently due to our age but we have to cope as we have to take care of our son.

"I do most of the work but his father contributes in whatever way he can. So, we collectively have taken the responsibility of raising our child in whatever way we can."

Despite the difficulties Kaur said she has no regrets about becoming a parent late in life. "'No matter where I am, he'll come crawling to me," she said. "I love him. He is a friendly child and smiles at everyone. This makes things very easy for me because I can be at ease when someone is around.

"I spend all day with him. We decided not to get any help. He loves his father a lot. He's always in his arms if I'm busy cooking or doing housework."

To mark his first birthday, Daljinder and Mohinder plan to take Armaan to the Golden Temple, in Amritsar.

"We do not want a party. He has been a blessing from God so we'll continue to respect that and take him to the Golden Temple for blessings for his good health and bright future," she said. "We also need blessings; we need as many good blessings as possible for our good health."