I am going on 6 months pregnant and am 19 years old. I didnt even know i was pregnant until i was already 6 weeks pregnant. I was so scared when i found out but i just couldnt "get rid of it" I already loved it. I have always been the straight A student who won blue ribbons at horse showsand took care of everyone. Ive never drank or smoked, but i did fall in love. The only person i had sex with was my boyfriend of two years and the condom broke and i am now going to be a mommy. To younf? probably, but i dont feel that any girl should get put down for bringing a child into this world. I mean how does everyone else think they got here? Age is just an age after going through the horrible sickness i went through in the beginnig of my pregnancy i will NEVER judge a young mother ever again!

I am going on 6 months pregnant and am 19 years old. I didnt even know i was pregnant until i was already 6 weeks pregnant. I was so scared when i found out but i just couldnt "get rid of it" I already loved it. I have always been the straight A student who won blue ribbons at horse showsand took care of everyone. Ive never drank or smoked, but i did fall in love. The only person i had sex with was my boyfriend of two years and the condom broke and i am now going to be a mommy. To younf? probably, but i dont feel that any girl should get put down for bringing a child into this world. I mean how does everyone else think they got here? Age is just an age after going through the horrible sickness i went through in the beginnig of my pregnancy i will NEVER judge a young mother ever again!

I am going on 6 months pregnant and am 19 years old. I didnt even know i was pregnant until i was already 6 weeks pregnant. I was so scared when i found out but i just couldnt "get rid of it" I already loved it. I have always been the straight A student who won blue ribbons at horse showsand took care of everyone. Ive never drank or smoked, but i did fall in love. The only person i had sex with was my boyfriend of two years and the condom broke and i am now going to be a mommy. To younf? probably, but i dont feel that any girl should get put down for bringing a child into this world. I mean how does everyone else think they got here? Age is just an age after going through the horrible sickness i went through in the beginnig of my pregnancy i will NEVER judge a young mother ever again!

I am a young mom, I had my son when I was 22 I am 24 now, but I feel so old! I think age is a state of mind, as well as body. I wish I felt my age again! I would love to meet other young moms, but in the SF Bay Area the majority of moms I meet are in their 30s or 40s..

I joined momversation just to respond to this page. Like a lot of posters I was twenty-three when I got pregnant with my first child. I was married, just finishing graduate school and it was a planned pregnancy. I had my child at twenty-four and experienced a lot of judgement. I did experience people asking if it was a mistake or why I wasn't waiting to have children etc. I try not to judge women who wait to have children. The fact is that we can't and don't always find that perfect person we want to have a child with. I felt very lucky that I did find that person early on and that he also wanted to start a family young. But it is hard not to judge when you receive so many comments from older moms. All the pregnancy magazines and books I read while I was pregnant were focused on women over thirty. It was like, teenagers and women over 30 were the only women allowed to get "support" and "special care." If you were between the ages of 20-29? Who cared if you were having a baby! At twenty-three, I wasn't young enough to be part of the teen mom support groups in the area, but I also did not have anything in common with the 30 year old moms. There are very few television shows that are about moms between the ages of 20-29. It is either always moms over 30 or teen moms. There are just not many support systems for women who have children between the ages of 20-25. Now that I am 26 and already have 1 child - I find that I am a lot more "acceptable" to the over thirty mom crowd. Also, because the average age to have babies nowadays is 27 and older I don't have a peer support system. I was out with girlfriends the other day (who are all over thirty and do not have children) and they were commenting on how all their 30+ friends were having babies. One of my friends said, "Well, it is the age!" And I thought, no it isn't, I had a child at 24! What about my age? However, I am trying to have my second child and for two years have had miscarriages and fertility issues. Unfortunately, because I'm not over 30, my doctors just tell me that "You are young, keep trying." This is infuriating to me. I feel completely ignored not just by popular culture (books, magazines, television) and older moms (playgroups, playdates etc.), but also by doctors. If I was over 30, it would take no time at all to get an appointment with a specialist and to receive the support and assistance I need to have a baby. But under 30? No help whatsoever. It is as if I don't exist. The main issue I have with older moms is just the judgement, agendas, and inflexibility. If a women waits to have children - that is no problem for me! I think many older moms are very organized, patient, experienced and sometimes more financially and emotionally secure. But, I do not appreciate when moms over 30 decide to lambast young mothers to make themselves feel better about their choice. I also don't appreciate that older moms seem to have these high pressured expectations and agendas for their children! In playgroups with 30+ moms, it seems to be all about comparing your children and their milestones. One of my older mom friends literally stopped talking to me when I told her my child started walking at 8 months. She came over the day I called her and asked me to "prove it" as her child who was the same age was still crawling. My child got up and walked around and she literally left angry at me. And for what? It didn't mean my kid was the next Einstein or something - they just walked early, who cares? The older moms that I know make such a big production and drama out of motherhood, from buying the most expensive brand of bottles and the most in-style jogging strollers to competing for spots at the most expensive preschools in town. It just gets a bit ridiculous. Older moms in my experience also tend to be WAY overprotective and yet inconsiderate of other people's children. The 30+ moms I know do not seem open to participating in support systems. When I've approached this age group about playdates or babysitting swaps or just a coffee - they are very closed off and try to avoid me or have such overscheduled days with their kids that they don't have time for a quick cup of coffee and a chat or a fun park playdate. We all have one thing in common - we are all moms! We struggle with sleep issues and behavioral issues and socialization issues and educational issues and health issues of our little ones. We should support one another because we are mothers - who cares how old or young you are? Age doesn't have to make a difference, but I think media has made mountains out of molehills.

I graduated high school in May 2004, got pregnant in July 2004, and got married in November 2004. I was 18 years old and my whole life transformed. I went from a hard partying teen to a responsible mother and wife. I felt like society turned there back on me not for just being a mother at a young age but also being married. Everyone thought we got married because i was pregnant but in reality we had already planned to get married and when my Aunts offered to pay for the wedding we jumped at the chance. I got the long speeches about how getting married that young would only lead to divorce. My husband who is 8 years older than me would never be happy. We would not even make it to the six month mark. Here we are 5 years later on our 3rd child and things could not be better. We still love each other as much if not more than we did 5 years ago and people still look at me like i am nuts when i tell them how old i am, how long i have been married, and how old my kids are. Like some of you said i never wanted to be an "older mother". For that matter i tol dmy husband early on in our relationship that i refused to have kids after i turn 30. Not beacuse i think it is horrible or that 30 is old but because of my own personal experience. My mom was 38 when she had me and died when i was 15. Yes it scared me for life and changed my opinion on having kids. I like my choices in life as far as my marriage and kids go and that is my opinion.

I must say I know a few young mothers but not alot. Just one thing.... I know we all judge but next time you see a 16 year old pregnant girl... keep in mind that she might not be knocked-up by accident but is pregnant by choice and has a partner and is in fact NOT 16...! I was mistaken for much younger then I really am several times.... Allthoug 23 might be young to it's a very healthy age to have a child.

What are you talking about? EVERYONE is a young mom nowadays!? I feel like I'm the only one out of all of my group of friends WITHOUT a kid and I'm 23.

My husband and I had our first child last year. I'm 30 and wish we had started sooner as well. We've already decided to start "trying" to have another this Fall and even that has sparked judgment from our family. While there is nothing wrong with women who choose to start or continue to have kids at 40, it is not something I want to do. I want to be more than done by then. I don't want to still be trying to have that 2nd or 3rd kid. I want to be able to enjoy my kids while I am still reasonably young. I want to be able to take them snowboarding or wakeboarding or simply not lose my patience when I have a few 5-year olds or teenagers running around my house. Most importantly, I don't want to be 60 when my children are barely out of highschool.

I usually don't judge young mothers. They're in for a ride and no amount of "I told ya so" will equal. So whatever, they'll figure it out. It was hard for my late 20-something self to figure it out and still is into my 30s. I do, however, sometimes judge the older mom set sometimes. The ladies who are so set in their ways, inflexible to their childrens' needs, world weary, bored, tired, would rather be focusing on their careers and only had kids 'cos the clock was running down. It's wrong to judge, I know it.