Lina Medina is the youngest mother in history and a medical mystery, giving birth at the age of 5 years. Despite speculations the case being a hoax, a number of doctors over the years have verified it based on biopsies, X-rays of the fetal skeleton in utero, and photographs taken by the doctors.

Lina’s father was quickly arrested on suspicion of child sexual abuse but was released due to lack of evidence. The biological father who impregnated Lina has never been nor revealed or identified.

Son Gerardo

Extreme precocious puberty is known to medical history and has been documented, but never with someone as young as Lina. During the childbirth, the doctors discovered she already had fully mature sexual organs.

On May 14, 1939, Lina gave birth, by a caesarean section, to a healthy boy who was named Gerardo after her doctor. Her newborn child, who weighed 2.7 kg (6.0 lb), was raised believing Medina was his sister, at the age of 10, he was made known she was his mother instead. Medina’s son grew up healthy and died in 1979 at the age of 40 from an infection of bone marrow.

Pictures of Lina Medina, the youngest mother in history

Lina Medina (right) with her son Gerardo (right) Lina Medina with Dr. Gerardo, who helped her to give birth to a healthy boy, who was then named after the doctor. In 1939, Lina was brought to a hospital by her parents due to increasing abdominal size. She was thought to have had a tumor, but her doctors determined she was in her seventh month of pregnancy.

Before the death of Gerardo, Lina gave birth to his younger brother. Today, she lives with her husband in a poor neighborhood of Lima, Peru and refuses to do interviews with the media. Their surviving son lives in Mexico.

Other notable young mothers

Hilda Trujillo gave birth to a baby girl named María del Rosario, again in Lima, Peru. She was believed to be nine years old, but many sources said she was, in fact, a year younger. The rapist was a 22-year-old cousin, who was quickly arrested by the authorities. Unfortunately, the rape of minors is nothing unusual in some parts of South-America, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that pre-pubertal girls, except in extremely rare cases, are physically able become pregnant.

Hilda Trujillo gave birth to a girl named María del Rosario

Some children mature much faster than others. Was this the case with Lina Medina and Hilda Trujillo when it comes to mental development – we can only speculate since there is very little known about the two. On the other hand, Genie Wiley’s case is extremely well documented, and her circumstances recorded in the annals of abnormal child psychology. She was a wild child, a victim of severe abuse and neglect, raised in extreme isolation.