what consequences do the babies of the teenage mothers face?

We all know that teenage mothers face various problems during and after pregnancy, but what problems do the babies face? A child being born from a teen mother can have many problems growing up.

Teen pregnancy is bad for the child because children that are born to teen mothers suffer from higher rates of low birth weight and other related health problems. "The proportion of babies with low birth weights born to teens is 21 percent higher than the proportion for mothers age 20-24. Low birth weight raises the probabilities of infant death, blindness, deafness, chronic respiratory problems, mental retardation, mental illness, and cerebral palsy. In addition, low birth weight doubles the chances that a child will later be diagnosed as having dyslexia, hyperactivity, or another disability." Therefor not only is the teen mother going to go through health problems but the child will too.

Another disadvantage that children born to teen mothers have are that they don't often have sufficient health care. Since the mothers aren't prepared to have a baby at such a young age it becomes difficult for them to cover medical expenses. even though the children already have a higher probability to get sick it is estimated that in his or hers first 14 years the average child of a teen mother visits a physician and other medical providers an average of 3.8 times a year, as to a child born to older parents will visit 4.3 times a year. And when they do visit medical providers more of the expenses that they make are paid by others in society. A recent study suggested that the medical expenses paid by society would be much less if teens would wait until they are older to have their child.

Also Children born to teen mothers are not likely to be raised correctly. This is because their mothers and often their fathers are too young to overcome the job of being a parent. The mothers themselves are still growing and developing so it makes it difficult for them to provide the kind of environment that children need for adequate development. There are certain "things" that parents need to do, for example a recent research demonstrated the importance of sensitive parenting and early cognitive stimulation for brain development. So since the mothers are so young they aren't able to provide these certain "things" that the child needs to grow up which then leads to poor parenting.

Also these children often become victims to abuse and/ or neglect. This is because most of the mothers that get pregnant aren't ready physically and mentally and didn't plan on getting pregnant so therefor they don't want the child which leads to leaving them up for adoption or at a fosters home. The mothers usually become frustrated with the responsibilities of parenthood so that's how child abuse begins. For example some teen mothers are used to having fun, going out with their friends and having everything the easy way. However a baby changes your life completely, so when their baby starts crying and they can't get him or her to quiet down they become frustrated because they don't know what to do so they abuse the child.

So not only do teen parents face difficult situations or problems but the babies that are born do as well.