Teenage pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy rate is still high in most industrialized countries. According to the statistics, 85% of these pregnancies are unplanned. Most teenage girls do not plan to get pregnant, but some do. Teenage pregnancy carries extra health risks to both mother and the baby.

Prenatal Care

In most cases, teens do not get prenatal care in time that can result in complications later on. They have a higher risk of pregnancy-related high blood pressure and its complications.

Delaying prenatal care is one of the biggest risks during teenage pregnancy. This delay is usually because of factors including fear of telling others, denial or delayed pregnancy test.

As far as the baby is concerned, it is at risk of premature birth and low birth weight.



Nutritional Support

Getting proper nutritional counseling is a very crucial part of prenatal care where teens are guided through the prenatal vitamins, supplements and the foods that are to be taken and that are needed to be avoided.

Ignoring proper nutrition can lead certain health risks including weight loss, Anemia (caused due to iron deficiencies) or low birth weight.

Teenage Pregnancy Tips:

If you are a pregnant teen, here are some tips to help yourself and your baby.

Get proper prenatal care

Take prenatal vitamins to keep yourself healthy and to prevent birth defects for the baby. Because your body is still growing, you will need more nutritional care.

Restrain from Smoking, Alcohol and Drugs. None of these should be taken during pregnancy as they are highly dangerous and can increase health risks for both you and the baby.

Despite of the fact that teen pregnancies are often stressful and teen mothers worry about how their families are going to react, acceptance, etc, teen mothers are completely capable of healthy pregnancy and delivering a healthy baby provided proper nutritional care, prenatal care and screening has been received. It is very important that they families support the young parents at the time when they are already facing many hardships.


Teenage Pregnancy Risks:

Teenage pregnancy comes with its own risks. Here is a list of the most common risk factors during teen pregnancy.

1. Smoking
2. Alcohol or Drug Abuse
3. Poor knowledge about sex
4. Lack of knowledge about contraception
5. Sex at young age
6. Sexual Abuse
7. Low self esteem
8. Lack of communication with the parents
9. Poor performance at school

Along with the above mentioned individual risks, some social and family risk factors that also play a role include dating at early age, dating older guys, sexually active friends, peer-pressure to have sex, poor or negative parental supervision, poor parental communication, family conflicts and teenage pregnancies in the family.

The most effective way to avoid teenage pregnancy is to provide good knowledge about sex, contraception and teenage pregnancy related complications to the teen and keep them well informed.