News, 10-Year-Old Girl Gives Birth in Belgium. (babies, pregnancy, parents)

[hotmommagirl16]

why would you have your period when getting pregant
and she is to young is now 11 years old now right.. she is not ready to
have a baby at that age..

[regarese]

Originally Posted by hotmommagirl16

why would you have your period when getting pregant
and she is to young is now 11 years old now right.. she is not ready to
have a baby at that age..

Some women will spot all through their pregnancies, and if their period is usually light, they may not know the difference. Also, if they have irregular periods, and experience occassional spotting through the pregnancy-again-they might not know the difference. It happens. And this is a 10 year old, so I'm sure she may-to say the least-have been a little uneducated. When I got my period I had no idea what it was for a couple of days, and barely understood how you got pregnant.

[cottonwood2420]

When she is 20 and a couple years into college, her child will be the age she is now. So wrong.

[Sampaguita]

This is a tragedy.

[cmj_fla]

Really, really sad. I am a young mom by choice, having my first at 20, and let me tell you that I am not the youngest mom in my daughters class by far! There is a 19 year old with a 7 year old! It was hard enough raising children in my early 20s that I could not imagine doing it in my teens. When I was 10 I had no clue what sex really was... its getting to be pretty scary place when elementary school children are having kids.

[floridadreamer]

Originally Posted by little_thirsty

I think this is one sad story. At 10 they should be playing with dolls. Seriously this makes me sad. At 20 this little girl will have a ten year old. Wow.

Kids are growing up a lot faster than than they used to unfortunately.

[Milliano]

I'm confused. Why is this such a bad thing? "Ohh no, she had a child! How terrible!"
Strange world we're living in when having a child naturally is seen as such a terrible thing.
I guess this will hurt her prospects for making a lot of money in the future! And that's horrible.

[cdc3217]

Originally Posted by Milliano

I'm confused. Why is this such a bad thing? "Ohh no, she had a child! How terrible!"
Strange world we're living in when having a child naturally is seen as such a terrible thing.
I guess this will hurt her prospects for making a lot of money in the future! And that's horrible.

You're on to something in that we should not stigmatize young women for being pregnant in non-traditional situations. Why not focus that energy on positive solutions and support? And I think, since the 80's/90's anyway, this has occurred. A lot more acceptance/visibility of motherhood in different situations like single momhood. But along with that, there needs to be family support and institutional support to make sure mom can do what she needs to do to support and raise baby, and so that baby gets everything he/she needs to thrive. Its not just about earning power, but making a living, period.

But, obviously this is an alarming case because its a 10/11 year old, and no 10 year old is ready to take on the responsibility of parenthood. And the means by which this child became pregnant is quite suspect -- incest/rape are quite possible. And I wouldn't consider it "natural", really either. Its not in our human nature to marry off or encourage procreation at such an early age, even if physically capable, in the countries I can think of. (Sure, some are younger than others, but still...)

[Milliano]

Originally Posted by cdc3217

And I wouldn't consider it "natural", really either. Its not in our human nature to marry off or encourage procreation at such an early age, even if physically capable, in the countries I can think of. (Sure, some are younger than others, but still...)

How is it not natural? She lives in a very wealthy country, with a good social safety net. She apparently was naturally able to give birth. If it wasn't natural, she wouldn't have been able to get pregnant in the first place. There is a biological reason why women are able to conceive before say... 21 years old.

Culture is another story. I agree that it's really important for a young mother to have that support. I wish our culture was more in tune with that. One aspect with how the middle/upper classes of America tend to be delusional about parenthood is how they think it's *so horrible* that poor single teenage girls get pregnant. They're totally out of touch with what the reality for the mother is like, and their value system makes them heavily biased against things like young parenthood.

[cdc3217]

Originally Posted by Milliano

How is it not natural? She lives in a very wealthy country, with a good social safety net. She apparently was naturally able to give birth. If it wasn't natural, she wouldn't have been able to get pregnant in the first place. There is a biological reason why women are able to conceive before say... 21 years old.

Well, IMO, just because we're biologically able to procreate at age 12, that doesn't mean it is what "nature" intends. Our biology includes being social, and socialized, and that's where my argument comes in. Also, our culture changes our biology -- in the US, the average age for the onset of puberty has been going down and that's often attributed to cultural factors like how our food produced (hormones in meat, dairy), average BMI, all sorts of theories are out there.

Here's a weird analogy -- when I grow tomato plants, I pinch off the first flowers so the plant can be stronger and more mature when it bears fruit and grow more tomatoes for me later in the summer. So I think its in our nature to socialize and cultivate.