Pregnancy interval and birthing problems

One should wait at least six months before getting pregnant again, and that more than 11 months would be even better.

Past research had suggested that a short time between pregnancies was associated with premature birth, growth restriction in the womb, stillbirth and other causes of early infant deaths and even maternal death.

To better assess the effects that time between pregnancies might have, researchers reviewed information from an Israeli database. They included information from 440,838 live births that occurred in Israel from 2000 to 2005 among women who had previously given birth.

Of that group, 36,020 women became pregnant again in less than six months, 77,899 were pregnant again six to 11 months later, 124,152 waited 12 to 23 months for a subsequent pregnancy and 158,636 waited 24 to 59 months. Only 44,131 women waited five years or more between their pregnancies.

The chances of having a preterm delivery increased by 23 percent in pregnancies where women had waited less than six months. The risk of having a baby, who was small or very small for gestational age increased by about 15 percent. The chances of early infant death increased 64 percent in the group that had waited less than six months between pregnancies and 22 percent among those who had waited six to 11 months. The risk of birth defects was 14 percent higher in the group that had waited less than six months.

It was also found that putting substantially more time between pregnancies wasn't necessarily better. Women who waited more than five years before having another baby had about a 40 percent higher risk of delivering that baby early. 

Pregnancy interval has been reported to influence preterm delivery, weight for gestation age and neonatal death, and the above findings adds to the evidence.

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