| "You are going to have a baby!" This statement is | | | | and delivery of the baby has a bad effect on the |
| greeted with joy by any woman, especially if she is a | | | | teenage mother's health too. Later years are going |
| mature adult, has a secure source of income, and | | | | to prove equally difficult. This mother runs the risk of |
| people to support her emotionally and physically. The | | | | developing preeclampsia leading to high blood |
| same does not hold true for a young girl who is still | | | | pressure, STDs, and anemia. The high blood pressure |
| too wet behind the ears to handle being a teenage | | | | may become a lifelong illness. There are chances of |
| mother. | | | | developing obesity too. |
| While the news that the rate of teenage pregnancies | | | | The baby born to a teenage mother faces health |
| is going down is welcoming indeed, there is also | | | | risks too, especially malnutrition, seeing that the |
| concern expressed for those pregnant teenagers | | | | mother herself is little more than a child and has no |
| who wish to carry on till the end and give birth to | | | | idea about how to take care of her own nutritional |
| their babies. The path they have chosen is full of | | | | needs during pregnancy. This ignorance and |
| challenges, whether it is related to personal health, | | | | immaturity leads to the birth of premature infants or |
| health of the newborn, or what lies ahead in the | | | | newborn infants being born with a low birth weight. |
| future. | | | | Even after birth, an unhealthy mother is unable to |
| The first obstacle to happiness for a teenage mother | | | | provide proper health care for her newborn. |
| is the disapproval expressed by society. The same | | | | The addition of a baby to the household makes it |
| social haunts where they were greeted with cordiality | | | | difficult for the teenage mother to continue her |
| earlier such as 'school/college, the church, houses of | | | | education. Skills to be developed for earning an |
| friends and relatives' now become a curse because | | | | income are left incomplete. Most often, she gets no |
| they are looked down upon by all and sundry. | | | | monetary support or childcare support for taking care |
| In addition to the trauma they are already facing | | | | of her child. Proper living conditions cannot be |
| because of a sudden pregnancy and birth, these | | | | provided for the infant as the mother herself is on |
| young mothers are forced to leave their happy teens | | | | the brink of poverty. |
| behind and behave like mature adults now. This may | | | | Thus, the overall picture does not look too good. |
| prove to be too much, too soon! The family | | | | Hopefully, with proper counseling, today's adolescents |
| members of a teenage mother go through a | | | | will be well on the way to developing self-confidence, |
| traumatic time too. They have to face society's | | | | learn how to blend with family and society, and |
| taunts as well. | | | | ensure themselves of a good education. And we shall |
| The stress associated with an unplanned pregnancy | | | | get to hear less and less about "teenage mothers"! |