A NEW nation-wide survey to find out the optimal period between child births was launched yesterday.
Most Singapore mothers wait one to three years between births, says the Obstetrics & Gynaecology department at KK Women's & Children's hospital (KKH).
According to Dr Kang Wee, the senior consultant at the department, "mothers and babies are both healthier if there are at least two years between the birth of the babies".
Called the Birth Spacing Saves Lives (BSSL) survey, it is being conducted by German pharmaceutical company Bayer Schering Pharma and supported by the Obstetrical & Gynaecological Society of Singapore.
The initiative was launched as studies done by the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama) show that waiting too long, or not long enough between births may have an impact on the child's health.
Births with intervals shorter than 18 months have a higher risk of adverse perinatal outcomes including low birth weight and prematurity.
While reasons for this remain unclear, insufficient time for mothers to recover from the stresses of the last pregnancy possibly plays a part. Lactation also affects a woman's nutritional health.
Dr Kang recommends that all mothers practise birth spacing methods, citing the condom, the Pill and intrauterine system as "safe, reliable and reversible".
However, breast-feeding mothers are advised against contraceptive pills, as they affect the production of breast milk.
The survey will involve 500 women, each with at least one child, and will be held at various clinics and pre-schools throughout Singapore in the next few months.
The results will be released in the last quarter of the year.
