Smoking and Pregnancy

Tobacco smoke can no longer be seen as a harmless atmosphere around a home. Research has shown that tobacco smoke puts all exposed to it at risk from its harmful effect. Its abitlity to 'hook' the smoker greatly extends the risk for the smoker as well as for unborn and newborn babies. This is why pregnancy and tobacco smoke do not mix!

How tobacco smoke affects a baby

Unitl a baby is born, all food comes from its mother's body. Food and other substances are carried in the mother's blood to the placenta where they cross into the baby's blood. Some harnful chemicals present in tobacco smoke will also pass from mother to baby. At the same time these tobacco poisons thicken the mother's blood and make feeding more difficult for the baby. This affects the baby and may even damage it.

Here are some re search findings on the risk to babies whose mothers smoke during pregnancy:

Effects

there is a 40 percent chance of miscarriage

they are more likely to be born prematurely

the risk of stillbirth is significantly increased

they are more likely to face complications during pregnancy

the risk of cot death is significantly increased

they can find it harder to thrive and become more restless

they are generally shorter, with smaller chest and head circumference

they have smaller brains

for their first five years they are more likely to fall behind in learning and have difficulty in catching up

they have an increased risk of contracting childhood cancers, particularly if smoking continues

The Aerosol Action

When a smoker draws from a cigarette, there is a flash of heat (up to 860 C) and then a rapid cooling. This changes tobacco into at least 4,000 different chemicals, taking the form of tiny air particles in a gas, like an aerosol. Many of these chemicals are poisonous.

Some of these particles are absorbed into the bloodstream and reach the baby only seconds later.

The effect on the baby will depend on the kind and amount of chemicals it takes in. Manufacturers may even add harmful substances to change the flavour of cigarettes or simply to keep them burning. But the usual chemicals such as nicotine, cyanide and carbon monoxide, creat the main danger.

The earlier the baby is affected by tobacco poisons, the greater the risk of damage. In the first weeks, the baby's development depends on tiny cells growing and splitting to form its essential shape. The presence of dangerous chemicals now can affect it more than at any other time.

Again during the last three months of pregnancy a mother's smoking can disturb the baby's growth.

Smoking- Active or Passive

You do not need to smoke a cigarette to be at risk from its harmful effects. If you are in an area where someone is smoking, you inhale the smoke from the air and become a passive smoker.

The passive smoker is unprotected from the heavily concentrated smoke that drifts from the burning end.

whereas the active smoker gets some protection, slight as it may, be by drawing smoke through the cigarette.

For a mother and her unborn child, a smoky room represents almost the same risk as actual smoking.

Stop Now

Stopping smoking at any time in pregnancy is beneficial, but ceasing right from the time you plan or start your pregnancy is wisest. Any pregnant women can give up smoking, but she will often need sympathetic encourage-ment, help and support.