No Child Left Behind: Can Having a Big Family Harm Your Children?

7.  Having many children is stressful and traumatic on a women’s reproductive system.

According to Dr. Jeffrey Richardson, an obstetrician who’s practiced out of California for 30 years, the health risks of pregnancy dramatically increases after four pregnancies and all pregnancies should be spaced out by at least 18 months.  Many women who have a large number of children don’t usually space out pregnancies far enough and this places them at a higher risk for pre-term labor, premature birth, miscarriage and higher incidences of C-section.  Note that although the female body is designed to have many children, too many pregnancies, pregnancy in women over age 35 and births too close together all increase the risk of maternal death.  The lesson?  Every woman’s body has a limit and not respecting that limit places both you and your children’s health at risk.