A ten year little girl becomes world’s youngest mother
The Wayuu tribe is known for giving birth at a very young age Reuters

A ten-year-old Colombian girl becoming one of the world's youngest mothers after giving birth to a healthy daughter has shocked the South American country.

The girl, a member of the northern indigenous Wayuu tribe in the La Guajira Peninsula, was 39 weeks pregnant when she underwent caesarean section, according to a Daily Mail report. It was the first time she was visiting a doctor after the conception.

The condition of the girl was reportedly quite severe. She arrived at the hospital bleeding and crying due to the enormous pain of contractions.

Doctors decided to take up the risk of caesarean taking the girl's age into consideration. The doctors said that the mother and the newborn baby were doing fine. But the mother, whose name has been kept under wraps, refuses to breastfeed the baby.

Details of the father of the newborn are still unknown. The local media speculates it could be a 15-year-old boy or a 39-year-old man.

The culture of the Wayuu tribe stops the Colombian police to take any action against the father for underage sex. Girls of this tribe give birth at a young age and the legal system permits them to maintain their own culture to an extent, the Daily Mail reported.

The director of the hospital where the child was born, Efrain Pacheco Casadiego, criticised the existing culture.

"We've already seen similar cases of Wayuu girl,"he told RCN radio.

"At a time when they should be playing with dolls, they go to having to take care of a baby. It's shocking," he added.

"Since it's a Wayuu girl we are trying to respect all of their rights since they have autonomy and their own jurisdiction," the Daily Mail quoted Alejandro Samplayo, director of parenthood organisation Instituto Colombiano Bienestar.

Over the years, there have been several instances of under-age girls becoming mother. In 1933 a Peruvian girl, Lina Medina, the world's youngest mother ever, gave birth to a son just two weeks after her fifth birthday, according to the Daily Mail. The world was unheard of girl giving birth at such a young age.

Jenny Teague became the youngest mother in the UK, giving birth at the age of 12 in 1977 shocking the nation.

The Daily Mail reports that, it is less shocking to see teen moms in America, as the majority of them are 15 years old and up. Many of the cases 10- and 11-year-old girls giving birth are considered victims of sexual assault.