'SOLO PARENTHOOD IS EASIER THAN BEING IN A COUPLE'

Falling in love doesn’t necessarily make someone right to be father of your child. None of the three big relationships of my 20s and 30s turned out to be with a man I wanted to settle down with.

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Anita Prabhu, 49, lives in London with her son Harry, four.

So I didn’t start out with the intention of being a solo mum; I just never met the right guy.

Having fun

By my 30s, I started looking for purpose elsewhere. I joined a British earthquake search and rescue team, rode a motorbike, took helicopter lessons, drove across India in a rickshaw and got a dog.

I had great friends, a wonderful family and a spectacularly fun life. But I always ended up questioning what it all meant without a child. I felt it as a biological need.

In my early 40s, I heard about a woman who’d chosen to have a donor baby alone, and I started to consider this path for myself. I thought about everything, from the ethics of my choice to role-playing what was possible with a baby on my back.

A difficult journey