What are the effects of smoking during pregnancy?

Most doctors consider smoking during pregnancy to have the greatest adverse effect on the baby. According to them smoking causes more harm than even having diabetes or high blood pressure. Smoking during pregnancy can lead to stillbirth, premature birth or low birth weight.

Cigarette smoke is known to contain more than 4,000 harmful chemicals and toxins. They form a toxic brew in your bloodstream, which is your baby’s only source of nutrients and oxygen. Out of these carbon monoxide and nicotine are especially harmful to the baby. Both these chemicals narrow the blood vessels inside your body, including the umbilical cord. When the umbilical cord becomes narrower, your baby gets less nutrition and oxygen. Besides, the red blood cells absorb carbon monoxide, and so your baby breathes that in instead of oxygen.

Smoking affects the baby in many ways. Lung development is adversely affected. Children of smoker mothers are more vulnerable to asthma, apnea and other respiratory diseases. They are also more prone to crib deaths or SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Brain function is also affected. This is due to less oxygen reaching the brain during the developmental period inside the womb. Children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy have been found to have behavioral problems, learning disorders, attention deficit problems, hyperactivity and relatively lower IQs. They may also develop psychotic diseases.

Pregnant women who smoke have greater risk of placenta problems. They may suffer ‘placental abruption’ which means that the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus. This can cause oxygen deprivation to the baby, or it may lead to a preterm labor. Lack of oxygen may cause the baby to die in the womb, leading to a stillbirth. Or even if the baby is born, her/his lungs may be too underdeveloped to survive for long. Infant mortality is much higher in smoker mothers.

Babies born to smoker mothers also have much lower birth weight. This is caused by the carbon monoxide and nicotine which choke up the umbilical cord, leading to less nutrition reaching the baby. Low birth weight means a weaker baby, and also sometimes less developed organs. Genetic defects like cleft palate, cleft lips, physical diseases like cancer, tuberculosis, ear infections and allergies are more common in babies born to women who smoke.

Smoking during pregnancy is like mixing poisons and offering them to your baby to swallow. It is therefore essential to stop the habit once you have become pregnant. Even reducing your smoking habit is not enough. Even one or two cigarettes in a day can be harmful for the baby.

Submitted by P T on May 6, 2010 at 01:22

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