Spacing Pregnancies Improves Children's Health A child's serious illness or death is a common event in many places and a cause of great stress and grief.
Couples can reduce their children's health risks by spacing births.
Even children born after an interval of 18 to 23 months are about one-third more likely to die than children born 24 to 47 months after the preceding child. Many women are having their children closer together than they wish. Research also shows that children are more likely to die if their mothers are younger than age 18.