Medical Problems Specific To Teen Pregnancies, Part 2

Premature babies (aka “Preemies”) have not had enough time and nutrition for their organs to fully develop and reach a healthy weight, so they are more likely to die within the first year. Even if they live, “preemies” and low birth-weight babies (also very common among teens) are at a much higher risk of serious health problems than other babies. When I say “low birth-weight”, I'm talking about babies between 3.3 and 5.5 pounds; such babies often need intensive neonatal care to help with basic functions like breathing and heartbeat because the organs that perform these functions are not fully developed. Low birth-weight babies also have an increased risk of digestive problems, mental retardation and other cognitive difficulties. Granted, “risk” does not mean “certainty”, but the chances are high enough to warrant careful consideration. Low birth-weight is usually caused by the mother not getting proper nutrition or gaining enough weight with the pregnancy, although habits such as smoking and drinking can do this too.

Anemia-a deficiency of iron-can be harmful anyway, but is especially problematic in a pregnant teenager. Teenagers are less likely to have good eating habits or gain enough weight during their pregnancies to give the baby adequate nutrition. Plus, since they're still growing themselves, even fewer resources go to the baby of a teenager than an adult. Iron is what helps the blood deliver oxygen to the rest of the body, so not having enough can cause a lot of problems to a developing fetus. This can be avoided by taking iron supplements and eating an iron-rich diet but, if a mother isn't getting the prenatal care I mentioned above, she won't know to do this.

I think one reason teenage mothers don't gain enough weight is because they don't want to “show”; they don't want everyone to know they're pregnant early on or to “look fat”. I don't say this to crack on teenagers in general so much as to say that some of the younger (say, 14-15) girls might not be mature enough to realize that this is a real person inside her who is dependent on her and whose needs she'll have to put before her own for the rest of her life, or at least the next 18 years. Even if she does understand that, “showing” at school can open a girl up to a lot of gossip and scorn from other classmates that certainly doesn't help matters. Like I said above, I'll go over the emotional issues in another post.

Hopefully I've given you some food for thought. I don't say these things to scare you so much as to state what can happen. The details of what to do if your daughter becomes pregnant are things that should be discussed within the family and/or with a doctor. Hopefully you'll never have to have that conversation but, if you do, at least you have a jumping-off point.

Medical Problems Specific to Teen Pregnancies, Part 1

I went to school in an area where teen pregnancy is fairly common. Several people I knew-my sister included-had their first child when they were 17 or younger. Judging from the things they said, being pregnant as a teenager is difficult enough without having to add complications to the equation. Any pregnancy can have complications, but are there any that are specific to teenage pregnancies? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. It's not so much that these things only happen to teens so much as that they are more likely to happen to teens; as much as we wanted to believe otherwise at that age, teens are not yet fully grown and are thus more at risk for certain problems than they would be if they were older. So, what are some of these problems? Here is a very basic overview. When I say “complications”, I'm only talking about the medical ones; I'll go over the social and emotional ones in another post.

One problem comes from the lack of prenatal care. Think about it; how many girls did you know in school had a pregnancy scare? I didn't, but some of my friends did. The first thing they'll probably say is that they're afraid of what their parents will think. If they're afraid to tell their parents they're in a position to need prenatal care or don't have parental support during the pregnancy, they're not likely to get it. Prenatal care is important all through the pregnancy, but especially in the first few weeks. If they don't get prenatal care, they won't know the right foods to eat, right vitamins to take or any of the other things mothers are told to do to ensure a healthy baby. They also won't know if there are any medical issues that could adversely affect their or the baby's health, which can cause other problems. In fact, the death rate from pregnancy complications is a lot higher in younger teenagers than it is in older, part of that being from problems that could have been addressed and dealt with early had prenatal care been given. Difficult as it is for a teenager to tell her parents she's pregnant, this is essential to getting her the care she needs. Most parents I know would rather have their child tell them she's pregnant than to risk harm to herself and/or her baby.

A teenager's body may literally be too small to carry a baby. We often see skinny people and joke about how it's a wonder they can “fit a baby in there”, but this can actually happen. Pelvic bones don't reach their “adult” size until age 18, which makes her more likely to need a c-section because she does not yet have the capacity for a vaginal birth. Smaller size also makes premature birth more likely because the baby has simply gotten too big for her body. This sounds weird, but it happened with my sister and another girl I knew.

(Continued in Part 2)