A woman has given birth to eight babies, only the second time in history octuplets have survived more than a few hours.

A woman has given birth to eight babies, only the second time in history octuplets have survived more than a few hours.

The mother gave birth yesterday to six boys and two girls weighing between 1lb 8oz and 3lb 4oz at a hospital near Los Angeles.

The hospital had scheduled a Caesarean section for seven babies, but doctors were surprised when an eighth came out.

"My eyes were wide," Dr Karen Maples said, explaining her reaction to the last birth.

Doctors said the babies were born nine weeks premature but were said to be in a stable condition. Two newborns were placed on ventilators and a third needs oxygen.

Hospital officials would not release any information about the mother, including her name, condition or whether she used fertility drugs. They did, however, say she planned to breast feed all of them.

"She's a strong woman, so she probably will be able to handle all eight babies," said Dr Mandhir Gupta, a neo-natologist who cared for the infants.

The mother checked into the hospital in her 23rd week of pregnancy and gave birth seven weeks later.

All eight babies will probably remain in the hospital for at least two months and the mother should be released in a week, Dr Maples said.

The world's first live octuplets were born in March 1967 in Mexico City, but all the babies died within 14 hours.

Mandy Allwood, from Warwickshire, conceived octuplets in the mid-1990s but lost all eight.

And in 1983 Janet Walton, from Liverpool, gave birth to sextuplets. Amazingly all six girls survived.

Jane Denton, director of the Multiple Births Foundation, said: "It is rare to have anything higher than quads.

"The biggest risk is that babies can be born early when they are not fully developed."

Ms Denton added: "To nourish eight babies is a tremendously unusual and demanding task for the human body."