When a couple decides to have children, they have different possibilities on the calendar. Have two or more separated for at least one year, separate them from each other longer (that the first child is 2-3 years old when the second is born) or have them very often, to raise them all at once and concentrate the most arduous work and Tiring in a certain time.
In this desire to have them followed, some mothers become pregnant with a second child a few months after giving birth to the first child (the truth is that in Spain I would say that very few women currently do) and it seems that this decision could be counterproductive for the wellbeing of the next baby.
A recent study suggests that there should be a time interval of at least six months between the birth of a baby and a new pregnancy, and that if this period is more than eleven months, the results are even better. Waiting for a short time to get pregnant is associated with an increased risk of preterm birth, delayed intrauterine growth and intrauterine mortality among other potential problems.
The causes to which these risks are attributed are the reduction of nutrients stored by the mother during the first pregnancy, the hormonal imbalance that occurs after the first birth and the physical stress caused by the care of the first baby.
To do this study, conducted at the Medical Center Shaare zedek From Jerusalem, information on 440,838 live births that took place in Israel between 2000 and 2005 has been reviewed.
Of all the women who had had children in that period, 36,020 women became pregnant before 6 months passed, 77,899 between 6 and 11 months after the previous pregnancy, 124,152 waited between 12 and 23 months for the other pregnancy and 158,636 waited between 24 and 59 months. 44,131 women waited five years or more between their pregnancies.
The figures that the study threw are the following: the women who had waited less than six months to get pregnant were 23% more likely to have a premature child. The chances of having a low weight baby also increased up to 15%.
The most worrying was the 64% increase in chances of suffering premature infant death and 22% in women who waited between 6 and 11 months, so it is concluded that Ideally, wait at least eleven months to get pregnant again.
"It has been reported that the interval between pregnancies affects premature birth, weight for gestational age and neonatal death, and this work probably provides more information because it is a very large study that analyzes births over time."commented Dr. Steven Allen, director of obstetrics and gynecology at Scott & White Healthcare in Temple, Texas.
"There are problems when the interval between pregnancies is very short, and six months seems the most important period of time"he stressed. "The good news is that most patients have their babies between these periods of time.".
The feeling I really have is what Dr. Allen comments. I would say that the majority of mothers in the Western world wait more than six months commented (at least right now I do not remember any who have become pregnant before that period) and even more than the eleven months recommended.
Personally I cannot (nor do I want to) imagine having children so often. The work is doubled, the eldest has a brother when he is beginning to know himself and when he needs to interact more with his parents and the fact of becoming pregnant before the year causes the nursing of the elderly to be affected (usually it is usual that during pregnancy there is a decrease in milk production).
