The world’s “oldest baby” has been born in the United States.
Entering the world on 26 July, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born from an embryo that had been stored in a tank for just over 30 years, as reported by MIT Technology Review.
That embryo was “adopted” from the biological mother, who had kept it frozen since 1994, by Lindsey and Tim Pierce, who live in Ohio..
It was transferred into Lindsey’s uterus in November 2024, who gave birth to baby Thaddeus at the weekend.
His adopted dad Tim was just a toddler when the embryo was created, and Thaddeus also has a biological sister who is now 30, with her own 10-year-old daughter.
The adoptive mother Lindsey Pierce told Technology Review: “He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby.”
It all came about because both the biological mother and the adopting parents were linked up by a Christian “embryo adoption” agency.
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How the baby was created
As reported by Technology Review, the baby’s biological mother and father went through IVF treatment in the 1990s.
They created four healthy embryos but the mother, Linda Archerd, had just one of them transferred – who became the now 30-year-old biological sister of Thaddeus.
The other three embryos were frozen in the hopes of one day having another baby.
But things changed, Linda and her husband separated, and when she reached the menopause she decided to reassess the future of the embryos.
Linda, a Christian, decided against donating the embryos to science or giving them to an anonymous couple.
Instead, she opted for “embryo adoption”, which allowed her to have a say in the future parents – with the process overseen by a religious agency.
Nightlight Christian Adoptions took on the embryos and placed them with Lindsey and Tim Pierce.
They fitted Linda’s criteria of a married, Caucasian Christian couple, and went on to have Thaddeus – giving him a biblical name.
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One of the embryos stopped growing, two were transferred Lindsey’s uterus, and one developed into a foetus.
After Thaddeus was born, Linda, now 62, told Technology Review that he resembles his big sister.
“The first thing that I noticed when Lindsey sent me his pictures is how much he looks like my daughter when she was a baby.”
Christian embryo adoption agencies
Before Thaddeus, other babies had been born from embryos 27 and 30 years old.
But such cases are rare because few organisations are willing to take on old embryos, concerned about the time and manner in which they have been stored.
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The IVF doctor who looked after the Pierces, John Gordon, also a Christian, set up the Rejoice Fertility Clinic to reduce the number of embryos held in storage.
Millions of embryos are estimated to be stored in freezers around the world, leftover from IVF procedures, which often yield more than can be implanted.
