Smoking is a growing hazard with every passing day. Many health problems arise from the problem of smoking! Smoking while you are pregnant is bound to affect your baby along with you. At present almost 10% women smoke during their pregnancy in the United States. This is such a plight as studies suggest that if these women were to stop smoking during their pregnancy, the number of still births would have been reduced by 11% and the number of new born deaths would have been reduced by 5%. There are almost 2500 chemicals that constitute cigarette smoke. It is not known for sure, which chemicals in the cigarette smoke harm the unborn baby but both nicotine and carbon monoxide are terrifically harmful for pregnant women expecting babies.

Due to pregnant mothers smoking, newly born babies are predominantly under weight. It causes the fetus to develop slowly than it would have under normal circumstances and might also lead to preterm delivery of the baby that is when the delivery takes place by the 37th week of the gestation period. Such babies face a lot of health problems even after they are born and significantly older. Chronic lifelong disorders such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation and learning problems are bound to occur. The more a woman smokes during pregnancy the more are her chances of having a low birth weight baby. However what is the good thing is that even if an expecting mother stops smoking till as late as the end of the second trimester, the chances of her having a low birth weight baby is as unlikely as a woman who never smoked in the first place. But quite obviously, for a woman who has never smoked, her chances of having a healthy baby are much greater than the chances that a smoking mother has.

Smoking is often associated with a number of pregnancy related complications. It tends to increase the chances of a woman from suffering placenta previa and placental abruption. Both of these complications can lead to severe bleeding during pregnancy which is quite dangerous to most mothers. However cesarean section deliveries can prevent the baby from dying in most cases. Smoking also causes a woman’s chances to suffer a premature rupture to increase when the sac holding the baby inside the uterus breaks before the 37th gestation week is completed.

Smoking causes fertility problems to women even before they have conceived. Smoking women have more problems trying to conceive than non smoking women. However there are chances of your fertility normalizing after one quits smoking. Not only is it harmful to smoke while you are pregnant but even after your baby has been born. Parents should refrain from smoking in the house and request guests to do the same. Babies exposed to smoke tend to suffer from lower respiratory illnesses and hearing problems. Problems of asthma and SIDS may also stem from parents smoking

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.