Meera Syal reflects on her ‘shocker’ pregnancy in her 40s and reveals the ‘mistake’ she made the second time around

Meera Syal became well known to audiences after writing and starring in shows such as Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No 42.

As well as writing and acting, Meera is also a comedian, novelist and playwright and a mother of two - her second child was born when the actress was 44.

She shares her daughter Chameli with her first husband, Shekhar Bhatia, who came along when Meera was in her early 30s. Her son, Shaan was born in her current marriage to Sanjeev Bhaskar.

During a recent appearance on Davina McCall's Begin Again podcast, the actress reflects on the challenge of having a baby in her 40s, with a 12-year age gap between her children. The star also details the "mistake" she believes she made as a second time mother.

"It's a bit of a shocker having a late baby," Meera tells Davina, adding, "And I've got 12 years between my kids, and I'd forgotten everything."

Admitting she had to take a "step back" from work, the actress recalls, "It was a shock to the system - I'd even forgotten basic things like, when do they eat?"

Meera continues, "I made a mistake the second time around- the first time I went on instinct." She goes on to explain what she means by this.

She says that instinctive parenting was "a breeze," and she accepted "so much amazing advice" from her wider family to help her care for her baby.

However, the second time she chose to go with the advice of a "childcare expert who has never had a baby" and followed the Gina Ford method.

Gina Ford penned the 1999 bestseller, Contented Little Baby Book. Not only did the book encourage parents to get their children into rigid, parent-focussed feeding and sleeping schedules, Gina famously never had children of her own which made her highly debateable as someone authoring books on caring for newborns.

Instead of sticking to the controversial book fer her parenting advice, Meera says she once again returned to the family members who "had 28 children between them."

"Whatever works for you is whatever works for you," she says, saying the advice in the book "didn't work for me."

The actress suggests that whatever you're doing as a parent must "align with your gut," sharing that when she "went back to auntie instinct and gut [instinct], it all got a lot easier."

Meera reiterates once again, "But yes, it's a shocker having a late baby." She did have the advantage the second time around that she didn't have the first, which was being able to afford to pay for help. "I couldn't do that when I was younger," she says.

"The big win is, it's a baby!" Meera says joyfully, as people in the comments of the segment when it was shared to Instagram, shared their stories and experiences of later in life babies.

One person wrote, "I was 46 when I had my now three-year-old. I met my husband late, I was 41 and we were trying for years for a baby. When she came we were overjoyed. I was resting for 45 years previously, I was raring to go."

Another added, "I totally relate, I had my first child at 48 - it's exhausting but also liberating, he is my total world."