Explain about the Adolescent Pregnancy?

The pregnant adolescent is viewed as a high-risk patient, highly susceptible to suboptimal pregnancy outcome. Even when not pregnant, a teenage girl has difficulty meeting her nutrient needs. Nourishing a growing foetus adds to her burden, The competition between maternal and foetal needs places both mother and infant at a risk. The frequency of prenatal problems e.g. toxemia, anaemia, premature births, low birth weight and increased maternal neonatal mortality is higher for adolescents than for adult women. Complications like iron deficiency anaemia reflect poor diet and inadequate prenatal care. Prolonged labour reflects the mother's physical immaturity.

Growth usually continues for 4 years post menarche, although at a much slower rate than during pre-puberty. Adolescent girls who become pregnant within 4 years of menarchelat a low gynaecologic age, are generally considered biologically immature, and therefore, at a high risk. Thus, nutritional needs for an adolescent mother must be estimated, in addition to her needs for growth. The dietary intake must meet the requirements for pregnancy, as well as, her individual needs at different stages of growth. Her nutritional requirements can be estimated by summing the RDI for the specific age and the additional recommendations. (We do not have sufficient specific information on nutritional needs
of pregnant adolescents). Energy expenditure of adolescent girls is variable; hence the best assurance of an adequate intake is satisfactory weight gain. This should be accomplished by individual counseling on the bases of estimates of body size, growth rate, and age and activity level.

Special attention needs to be paid to the calcium and iron needs. Nutritional assessment should include pre-pregnancy weight, the gynecological age (the chronological age minus the age at menarche), and the dietary intake history and activity patterns. Attention should be given to the pre-pregnancy nutrient intakes and nutritional status, low intakes of nutrient-dense foods during pregnancy and restricted food intakes.