The world’s ‘oldest baby’ has been born in the US

A baby who entered the world last week has already broken records and has been given the title of ‘world’s oldest baby’.

Now, to be in the news from literally the moment you’re born is pretty much unheard of, but this special baby will be able to look back on why his birth was so special when he’s old enough to understand.

Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born in the US on Saturday (July 26) to parents Lindsey, 35, and Tim Pierce, 34, who live in Ohio.

And the baby's mum told MIT Technology Review that her family thought the birth of the little one was ‘like something from a sci-fi movie’.

“We didn’t go into it thinking we would break any records,” Lindsey told the publication, “We just wanted to have a baby.”

She added: “We had a rough birth but we are both doing well now. He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby!"

A baby who was born last week has already broken records (Lindsey and Tim Pierce/Rejoice Fertility Clinic)

On top of the baby being the world’s oldest, the youngster also has a 30-year-old sister, which is quite the age gap.

If you’re feeling a bit baffled and wondering how on earth can a baby be ‘old’ as soon as they’re born, you wouldn’t be the only one - let us explain how it was done.

Thaddeus was born from an embryo that was frozen for more than 30 years, breaking the record for the longest an embryo has been frozen before resulting in a successful live birth.

After being stored in a tank for three decades, it was transferred into Lindsey's uterus in November 2024, and then she gave birth to the little one at the weekend.

The embryo came from Linda Archerd, 62, who had made it with her then-husband in 1994 through IVF.

She had initially created four - one became her now 30-year-old daughter, and the other three were left in storage.

After splitting from her husband, she did not want to get rid of the embryos and instead decided to donate them either to families in need or for research.

Thaddeus was born from an embryo which was frozen for more than three decades (Lindsey and Tim Pierce/Rejoice Fertility Clinic)

She stored them in a facility, which set her back thousands of dollars each year, but she continued because she believed it was the ‘right thing to do’.

As time was ticking on, Linda looked into the concept of embryo adoption, however, she said that many places wouldn’t take her information because of how long ago the embryo had been frozen.

She eventually found somewhere that was willing to help and took the step to put her embryo up for adoption.

However, it was important to her to be involved with the baby, as technically they would be a sibling to her adult daughter.

The Pierces had tried to have a child for seven years before they also turned to this method to get pregnant - they were signed up to a Christian ‘embryo adoption’ agency.

Nightlight Christian Adoptions ‘Snowflakes’ programme allows donors to choose a couple and even state preferences around nationality, religion and race.

Linda wanted a married Caucasian, Christian couple living in the US, and so was matched with the Pierces.

Linda said she got turned away from multiple clinics who wouldn't take her embryos due to their age (Getty Stock Image)

Linda told MIT Technology Review that the whole experience has ‘been pretty surreal’ and ‘hard to even believe’.

And Beth Button, executive director of the Snowflakes program, told the publication that ‘over 90% of clinics in the US would not have accepted these embryos’ due to their age.

Now that baby Thaddeus has been born, Linda can’t wait to meet him after seeing some photos.

She said: “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.

“I pulled out my baby book and compared them side by side, and there is no doubt that they are siblings.”

And to blow your mind even more, the baby’s dad, Tim, was only a toddler when the embryos were first created.

Congratulations to the happy parents!