The reason I ask is because I think I'm seeing a growing trend, not just among my friends but from articles I've read and TV programmes I've watched of women turning to ex-lovers, having one-night stands and sleeping with their best male friends simply to have a baby without being in a solid relationship with them. For years we've heard about teenage girls having babies because they want "someone to love" but it seems there are now lots of 20 and 30-something women, many of whom are successful, intelligent and beautiful, doing the same thing.

Take my friend A. She wanted a baby for years and got to her late thirties realising there weren't a heap of eggs left in the old basket. She quickly hooked up with an old flame (who was always dead against having kids) and within the space of a few months fell pregnant. She felt she just didn't have enough time to wait for Mr Right. She is currently a single parent. Fortunately for her, her ex has been supportive unlike the ex-partner of my friend B who had kid no1 with Mr No-Good and did nothing but cuss him after the baby was born.

Two years later she's pregnant again for this man despite not being in a proper relationship with him. And yes she continues to cuss him for not being a doting dad to his two children. Luckily, friend B has enough money to survive on her own so she doesn't really need Mr No-Good, although I wouldn't be suprised if she has another child for him in the not so distant future.

Friend C was the person that shocked me the most. Successful, middle-class with her own business and home, suddenly began to panic when she reached her mid-thirties and had no children to show for it. She meets a man at a party and within a year of dating she's pregnant for this guy who is nowhere near her level. She says it was "an accident" - it was no accident - she'd planned the baby (in her head). But the guy wants very little to do with his son. So like friend B, she has now resorted to cussing him day and night.

Why are so many women doing this? In the end it's the children that suffer.

To me it seems that some women when they reach a certain age are opting to treat their "boyfriends" like a sperm bank rather than actually going to the bank itself. One thing I do know is that women shouldn't expect a man, who've they've only known for a short space of time to suddenly turn into Britain's Best Dad once little Katie or Kyle is born. Yes men should be responsible fathers, but I think a woman needs to make the decision jointly with her man on whether to have the baby or not. Single parenthood isn't easy and I should know as the daughter of a single mother. Isn't it better to wait for Mr Right than get knocked up by Mr Wrong?

The whole situation is very sad and is contributing to the growing tide of single mothers in society and the troubles that plague their offspring - but that's another topic.

Jewel