Every year in the United States, almost one million teenagers become pregnant--at tremendous costs to themselves, their progenies, and the entire society. While the facts are very simple, the issue of teenage pregnancy is complicated just because of conflicting attitude and behavior. Talk of sex can fill the airwaves; younger and younger girls are depicted as sexual objects; and sex is used to sell all things from apparels to news.

Yet it is really shocking at the rising cases of teens those are sexually active and if we are really concerned about the welfare of infants, children and teenagers, it is must to move beyond the moral panics and denial that so often distort the treatment. Designing effective remedies will be needed the attentive separation of fact, premiss and wishful thinking and a fair acknowledgment that much is yet not totally realized about the causes of teenage pregnancy.

If one is a teenage girl and engaged in sexual acts, there are chances that she might get pregnant any given time. The teen pregnancy signs do not differ much from those signs and symptoms of pregnancy in any women. However, there are some particular signs and symptoms that might help a teenager determining if she is pregnant. But the only way to know with assurance is to have the pregnancy diagnosed by a qualified health care provider. Nevertheless, before seeing such health care provider, a teenage girl might also take a pregnancy test as such tests are generally up to 99 per cent accurate.

Teenage mothers are, to a lesser extent, gain adequate weight during their pregnancies, and that leads to low birth weight of baby that is associated with infant and childhood problems and a high percentage of infant mortality. Low-birth weight infants are more likely to have bodily organs those are not yet developed that again, can result in complications like bleeding in the brain, respiratory distress problems, and various gastrointestinal problems.

Early Teen Pregnancy Signs

There are many teen pregnancy signs. In some girls these early signs of teen pregnancy might occur for reasons other than being conceived. For instance, if a teen is remarkably stressed or active, she might experience one or more pregnancy symptoms common in teenagers. Early signs and symptoms of teen pregnancy are listed below:

• a missed menstrual cycle
• morning sickness; nausea or vomiting
• frequent micturation
• soreness and fullness of breasts
• fatigue or distress
• changes in mood and appetite

Although having a pregnancy test is the most common method a teenager can tell that she is pregnant before going for any medical diagnosis, such early signs are worth noticing. Things like distress or increased activity levels might create many of such signs that include delaying a menstrual cycle or cause fatigue or changes in hunger.

Later Teen Pregnancy Signs

As a teen pregnancy progresses, the signs and symptoms turn more prominent and harder for teens to ignore. Some of those teen pregnancy signs are:

• enlarged abdomen
• weight gain or loss
• different aches like backache or headache
• quickening (sensation of the fetal movement)
• different food craving

Trained and qualified health care professional can also detect additional signs and symptoms of teen pregnancy while performing physical examination and other procedures like ultrasound screening. Such signs and symptoms involve changes in the sizes and shapes of the uterus, changes in the cervix, or sound of fetal heart beat.