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The youngest mother on record.

  Author:  15228  Category:(Interesting) Created:(7/22/2004 8:40:00 AM)
This post has been Viewed (6027 times)

I found this on snopes.

The youngest mother on record was a five-year-old Peruvian girl.

Status: True.

Regardless of our squeamishness, we have to note that the claim of a five-year-old girl giving birth is apparently true. Her name was Lina Medina, a Peruvian girl from the Andean village of Ticrapo who made medical history in 1939 when she gave birth to a boy by caesarean section in May 1939 at the age of five years, seven months and 21 days.

Lina's parents initially thought their daughter had a large abdominal tumour, but after they took her to a hospital in the town of Pisco physicians confirmed that her abdominal swelling was due to pregnancy. Linda was eventually transferred to a hospital in Lima, where she delivered a six-pound baby boy by Cesarean section on 14 May 1939 (coincidentally the date on which Mother's Day was celebrated that year). Lina's father was temporarily jailed on suspicion of incest, but he was released for a lack of evidence and authorities were never able to determine who fathered Lina's child.

Lina's incredible story was documented in contemporaneous reports by Edmundo Escomel, one of Peru's preeminent physician-researchers of the period and a laureate of the prestigious French Academy of Sciences. Escomel's first correspondence to the editors of La Presse Medicale1 (which is undated but appeared in the 13 May 1939 issue) noted that Lina first came to the attention of Dr. Gérado Lozada, chief physician of the Hospital of Pisco, when she appeared at that hospital in early April 1939 for evaluation of what was assumed to be a massive abdominal tumor.

It soon became obvious to the stunned Lozada, however, that the little girl was pregnant. Further examination revealed a fetal heartbeat, and an X-ray confirmed the pregnancy. Escomel stated that Lozada had submitted a report about the case to the Academy of Medicine in Lima.

Escomel's announcement2 (dated 20 May 1939) that Lina had deliveed a baby boy (on 14 May) appeared in the 31 May issue of La Presse Medicale. In addition to amending the age at which Lina began menstruating (to an incredible 8 months), Escomel submitted a photograph of the gravid 5½-year-old:

At the end of his piece Escomel noted with some sadness that no one had yet discovered the identity of the father since Lina "couldn't give precise responses." He also stressed the importance of getting adequate care for the little girl.

Escomel's final report3 was published in the 19 December 1939 issue of La Presse Medicale. He commented on a biopsy of one of Lina's ovaries performed on a sample removed at the time of the Cesarean section and provided photomicrographs of the stained tissue sections. In the end, pathologists pronounced Lina to have the ovaries of a fully mature woman. Escomel posited that the reason behind her precocious fertility could not lie in the ovaries themselves but must have stemmed from an extraordinary hormonal disorder of pituitary origin. (As a point of comparison, the average age of first menstruation in the U.S. is 12½.)

The U.S. press was also interested in this curious and disturbing story. A United Press report published in the Los Angeles Times on 16 May 1939 noted:

Dr. Hipolito Larrabure, head of the maternity hospital, who aided Dr. [Geraldo] Lozada [director of the Pisco Hospital] during the [Cesarean] operation, said Lina withstood the operation in excellent manner. Medical circles here were astonished at the birth, which they believed without precedent. Dr. Larrabure said the case was "truly astounding" and added that he hoped "some United States scientific foundation will send an investigator to Lima to observe the case and indicate the best manner of caring for the mother and child."4 The Los Angeles Times also reported their own confirmation of the story that same day:

The possibility of a girl becoming a mother at the age of 5, as reported on Sunday from Lima, Peru, was upheld today by Dr. Joseph B. De Lee, obstetrics authority of Chicago Lying-in Hospital.

Dr. De Lee cited the case of a Russian girl who became a mother at the age of 6½. According to the physician who reported the case in a German medical journal, Dr. De Lee said, the mother had the physical development of a girl 10 or 12 years old.5

Six months later, the New York Times reported that an American public health official had also verified Lina's remarkable story:

While in Lima Dr. [S.L. Christian, assistant surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service] examined Lina Medina, the Indian child-mother whose baby was born last May when the mother was about 5 years old. He said that although there was some confusion as to whether the mother was 5 or 6, there was no doubt of the authenticity of the case, which he described as the most amazing thing in his career as a physician.6 The following year the New York Times reported that a trip was being organized so Lina could be "brought to the United States within a month for examination by a five-man medical commission." Plans called for the little mother, the baby boy, and the girl's parents to travel to Chicago, but there was no follow-up indicating that the Medina family ever made the journey to the U.S.7 In 1941, two years after Lina give birth, the New York Times published an account of an American psychologist who had examined Lina while visiting South America:

Another passenger [on the liner Santa Clara, which was returning from South America] was Mrs. Paul Kosak, specialist in child education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Mrs. Kosak is the only child psychologist who has been permitted to make studies of Lina Medina, the Peruvian girl who, two years ago, gave birth to a child at the age of 5 years.

Mrs. Kosak said she gave a series of intelligence tests to the child and that on the basis of this study she has no doubt the child's age was given correctly.

"Lina is above normal in intelligence and the baby, a boy, is perfectly normal and is physically better developed than the average Mestiza (Spanish Indian) child," she said. "She thinks of the child as a baby brother and so does the rest of the family."8

Jose Sandoval, an obstetrician who took an interest in Lina Medina's case and authored a book about her in 2002 said that Lina was a psychologically normal child, that she displayed no other unusual medical symptoms, and that she preferred playing with dolls rather than her own child.

Lina's boy, named Gerardo (after Dr. Gérado Lozada, chief physician of the hospital in Pisco where Lina's pregnancy was diagnosed), did not learn until he was 10 years old that the woman he thought to be his sister was in fact his mother. Gerardo died in 1979, but Lina's second son, born in 1972 (thirty-three years after his brother), now lives in Mexico. Lina and her husband currently reside in the "Little Chicago" district of Lima, Peru.9

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Halloween is Right around the corner.. .







 
Replies:      
Date: 7/22/2004 8:41:00 AM  ( From Author ) From Authorid: 15228    Just thought it was interesting.  
Date: 7/22/2004 8:44:00 AM  From Authorid: 62401    I had heard about that... but i heard that she died after giving birth... glad to hear she didnt! -Lindsay  
Date: 7/22/2004 8:49:00 AM  From Authorid: 23796    OH the poor girl!! I can't believe investigation stopped on who the father was. Ugh..I can't imagine.  
Date: 7/22/2004 8:59:00 AM  From Authorid: 24003    OMG Thats just shocking.  
Date: 7/22/2004 9:02:00 AM  From Authorid: 61897    It's amazing & disgusting at the same time.  
Date: 7/22/2004 9:03:00 AM  From Authorid: 54968    Wow...poor girl   
Date: 7/22/2004 9:05:00 AM  ( From Author ) From Authorid: 15228    I can't imagine who the father was. It is disgusting to think it was her own father, if it was, you would think her baby would have some problems.  
Date: 7/22/2004 9:06:00 AM  ( From Author ) From Authorid: 15228    On snopes they have a picture of her..I think it's under new stories.  
Date: 7/22/2004 9:12:00 AM  From Authorid: 40530    Poor, poor girl...  
Date: 7/22/2004 9:15:00 AM  From Authorid: 15677    I would be doing a dna test now for sure
  
Date: 7/22/2004 9:16:00 AM  From Authorid: 40530    I looked at the picture....that bump is almost as big as her!! I guess the parents thought of their grandchild as a son because the son though that his mother was his sister untill he was 10  
Date: 7/22/2004 9:22:00 AM  ( From Author ) From Authorid: 15228    Isn't is surprising she could have another child? You would thing the stress on her young body would be to much. I guess our bodies are much tougher than I imagined.  
Date: 7/22/2004 9:23:00 AM  ( From Author ) From Authorid: 15228    Crystal, I had a hard time looking at the picture. My daughter isn't much older!  
Date: 7/22/2004 9:28:00 AM  From Authorid: 14754    boy..in my line of profession, i have seen as young as 12..but not 5..that is sick  
Date: 7/22/2004 10:02:00 AM  From Authorid: 62267    I heard about it also. But the way I heard it was that there was a medication that farmers use to give chickens to make them mature faster (it is illegal now) and that the girl ate some chicken which had taken the medication before and it caused her to begin to mature. Then her retarted cousin raped her. My teacher told me that one.  
Date: 7/22/2004 10:07:00 AM  From Authorid: 30747    Wow, how messed up is that huh? I think I would have found the "father" and strung him up but the you know what.  
Date: 7/22/2004 10:15:00 AM  From Authorid: 7574    Wow...That's a little bit disturbing, but also at the same time very intriguing...  
Date: 7/22/2004 10:27:00 AM  From Authorid: 62704    OMG That is revolting. A five year old giving birth? This world is sick. I thought you were going to say the youngest mother was like 11 or something like that. Which is still crazy but five, I'm in shock. ~Star Angel~  
Date: 7/22/2004 10:46:00 AM  From Authorid: 59418    WOAH! poor girl!  
Date: 7/22/2004 10:52:00 AM  From Authorid: 23101    I have never heard of this before! I still dont understand how that could happen, and who is the father? Unsolved Mystery! LOL..  
Date: 7/22/2004 11:02:00 AM  From Authorid: 53284    With any luck she could be a grandma at 10.  
Date: 7/22/2004 11:19:00 AM  From Authorid: 52130    holy cow! *falls out of chair* i can't even comprehend this...i wonder what Lina's family will be like when she's much older, like will she consider her son as her brother then too? this is UBER-weird lol  
Date: 7/22/2004 11:22:00 AM  From Authorid: 48809    Such a sad thing to happen to a young child. I don't doubt this is true, because I remember hearing about it many years ago.  
Date: 7/22/2004 12:38:00 PM  From Authorid: 53157    Poor girl.  
Date: 7/22/2004 1:15:00 PM  From Authorid: 3263    Wow. Talk about babies having babies!   
Date: 7/22/2004 1:21:00 PM  ( Admin-DNL )   thats disgusting. I can't imagine having a mother only five years older then me. That poor girl...
Date: 7/22/2004 1:38:00 PM  From Authorid: 53360    thats strange, very strange O_O  
Date: 7/22/2004 5:37:00 PM  From Authorid: 8278    WOW!! that is just unbelievable! I would think it would be almost impossible for a 5 year old child to carry a child of their own for nine months. That is really a sad thing. I wish they didn't give up looking for the father though. the thought of that just disgusts me! that poor poor girl  
Date: 7/22/2004 6:27:00 PM  From Authorid: 12823    My father-in-law is a doctor and he has her in one of his books from the '40's about medical anomalies. Only the picture is a different one from the one snopes.com has. Instead of facing sideways, she is facing forwards. Its sad because you know it was a rape/molestation.  
Date: 7/22/2004 8:45:00 PM  From Authorid: 19460    There was a little girl that rode my mom's bus when she drove for the school and the little girl was about 10. Every morning she would be waiting with her mom in the car at the end of the road waiting for the bus. Mom would see her give this little boy (about a year old) a kiss and a big hug. One day Mom said "Wow your brother is very lucky to have a big sister so loving as you are!" The little girl said "Oh that is my son!" Mom said the other kids on the bus told her the girl had been molested and ended up having the baby. Sad Sad Sad.  
Date: 7/22/2004 8:54:00 PM  From Authorid: 12341    Interesting Kely, but disturbing. A child having a child is such a huge life event. Whether it is a case of child rape or not, it is still child rape when a child conceives a child. Reason and common sense tells us when the society we live in and environment has prepared child for conception. Medically, this is not impossible, but rare, and most likely, not well known, thankfully.  
Date: 10/11/2004 4:31:00 PM  From Authorid: 24673    My dad has a picture of the 5yr. old girl. He keeps a lot of unique pictures.  
Date: 10/11/2004 4:38:00 PM  From Authorid: 24673    I have known about the little girl since I was very young and it's so nice reading that she is still alive and well.  
Date: 8/25/2005 7:30:00 AM  From Authorid: 35160    *goes bug eyed* oh my gawd.  

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