Is it safe to have a child every year?

[faithfulbird20]

I know sue Radford has and she looks healthy. But is it safe? Just working it out sometimes she's been 2 months post Partum, sometimes 6...but shes just about had one every year. I was always told to wait 18 months before trying again but I waited till my daughter was nearly 3...

My Nan had 18 children in 23 years. Her last pregnancy ended in an emergency hysterectomy and haemorrhage. My mum just said her womb was worn out (not a medical term but I think it had enough. She lived to 86 and was quite healthy.

I've read some research somewhere that having less periods is good for the body which pregnancy and breastfeeding do. Also breastfeeding lowers chances of breast cancer and other things I can't remember. So I wonder if the stress to the body from pregnancy balances out for some woman with the positive things.

I am sure (and I fully am grateful that I can say this) I have a baby making body. I had three in four years with little trying with easy pregnancies and births. I am also grateful that I have options that I don't just become a baby making machine. My Nan went to the cardinal to ask for the pill (in Ireland) after baby number nine or ten as they needed to get permission. The cardinal refused saying it was her duty to bare children. As much as my Nan loved her kids she had no choice and I'm sure it's not the life she would have chosen.

My mother had 4 under five.

Apart from the first one born when she was 18, who weighed 6lb, the others were all underweight and had lifelong issues - the last one also had spina bifida. She had labours lasting 47 to 59 hours and post partum haemorrhages each time (something that anaemia increases the risk for).

By the fifth, who was in special care for a fortnight due to being so small, she needed three surgical repairs because she had complete prolapses, her teeth had all crumbled and she looked 50 aged 37. She also had osteoporosis diagnosed by 40. The only reason she stopped having babies was because he left.

Her shit parenting is probably neither here nor there, although the prospect of coping with so many babies and toddlers at once probably didn't help an 18 year old that much, especially as the second apparently cried constantly. And the consequences of not being adequately nourished for both her and the babies and the sheer damage to her physically was obvious.

Faithfulbird20
No.. Mine were born end ofJan 92, mid March 93 and early April 94... So 13.5 months between the first two and less than 13m between no 2 and 3.

Thankfully I don't seem to have suffered pendulous boobs (fat chance!) or loss of teeth. My womb did go south tho... but that after no 4 who was also large with a mahoosive head and a fast labour!
It was hard work but fab...and I don't think any of my children felt deprived of attention or educational support... (DD1 was the youngest person in her cohort to graduate medical school and the other two have followed similar paths!)

They were 'group raised' I guess but it had so many benefits and it was fun!

This is such an interesting thread... Thanks to all who have shared their experiences and views

My DGF was one of thirteen and they all survived. His mother my DGGM had a baby virtually every year. He was raised by his elder sisters but his mother still died young. He had nothing good to say about having so many siblings.

I cannot imagine the physical, emotional and mental strain of being pregnant whilst having a baby in arms for year after year.

I've never liked the Radfords. He is a predator and when she has to give up having babies he will be off to do it to another girl/woman.

You irish stairgates?

Have you seen the Radford kids? Some of them look gaunt. The girls generally turn into baby machines like their mum when they turn 16. The boys enter unskilled workforce. Their kids in turn look gaunt. It's like a production line.

It could be that they received depleted nutrition in utero. It could also just be genetics.

Can't remember why we were discussing this sort of thing, but a colleague at work said that his all wife's teeth fell out and she had bone issues with her arms after she had had her 4th baby in 5 years.

@Deadringer

You irish stairgates?

Mother is was, shes passed bless her, she was one of 7 and 7 sound familiar!!

Depends on other factors eg diet I suppose too. I personally couldn't get pregnant until 15 months after I had dd, wasn't using contraception - breastfeeding is natures way of spacing pregnancies. Apparently I'm indigenous societies who practice extended breastfeeding it's normal to have a 4 year gap, they need this to ensure the older child can walk etc before there is a new baby

Yes I’ve heard lots of stories of women in the past being depleted nutritionally following childbirth and losing teeth as a result. Less common nowadays as we have much more varied diets and good food is easily available.

But still a baby a year doesn’t give any time to restore the nutritional balance. As someone upthread said, hunter gatherer societies normally have about 4 years between births (I think due to long term breastfeeding) so that is a guide towards what is optimal perhaps. But given our better medical knowledge we can probably don’t need to wait quite that long - 2 or 3 years seems a reasonable compromise

@BorsetshireBanality I broke half a molar in first pregnancy which completely crumbled in second pregnancy 4 years later and nearly lost a second. So that's 2 in 2.

@folkybythesea wow okay. So they don't go to uni and get an education?

Interesting about the teeth falling out - my Nan was known as nanny gums & her entire set of teeth lived in a glass on the table by the front door (ready to put in when she went out) she was probably only in her 50s then.

UK pregnant and postpartum women do get free dental care, don't know when that came in, but presumably out of necessity

I wondered why we get free dental care when pregnant. I had bleeding gums but didn't know about the teeth falling out. My dentist said that in her experience pregnancy does impact on women's teeth and she recommended seeing the hygienist before getting pregnant and brushing after lunch as well. Basically just keep your mouth ultra clean.
Anyone know what impact pregnancy really has on teeth?

Sure isn’t my idea of a good time
I had 3 in 5 years, and that was enough of a stretch both physically and mentally.

Folk wisdom is a tooth per child.

I had 4 in 5 years - in my 60s now, but my insides are not what they were!!

[quote faithfulbird20]@folkybythesea wow okay. So they don't go to uni and get an education?[/quote]
One of the older girls, I think Chloe, went for a term but then decided to go home and work in her dad's pie shop.