Emily Chan
The youngest mother in the history of the world was just five-years-old when she gave birth to a baby boy. In 1939, Lina Medina had a swollen belly that her parents feared was a tumor.
After taking her from their home in the remote Peruvian village of Ticrapo to see a doctor in Lima, they found out that their daughter was seven months pregnant.
Lina was born into a family of nine children on September 23, 1933. Her pregnancy at such an early age took everyone by surprise and attracted a lot of media attention.
On May 14, 1939, Lina gave birth to her son, Gerardo, via C-section. She became the youngest mom in the world at the age of five years, seven months, and 21 days.
Experts believe that Lina had a rare genetic condition that causes a child’s body to change into that of an adult soon.
Boys with the condition will develop a deeper voice and facial hair. Girls will grow in their chest and gain the ability to have a baby. About one in 10,000 children are affected by the condition, with girls ten times more likely to develop the condition than boys.
Most of the time, the cause of this condition is unknown.
In the case of Lina, physical examinations showed that at just five-years-old, she had already developed a chest, wide hips, and advanced bone growth for her age.
Lina never told the authorities who the father of her child was. It is possible that she might not have even known exactly what happened due to her young age. The doctor who discovered her pregnancy said that she was unable to answer his questions about the father clearly.
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