Anyone who smokes knows that it is unhealthy, but smoking during pregnancy also places your baby at great risk for many health problems. Actually, there are problems right down the line including adverse risks during birth and beyond. If you smoke and learn that you are pregnant, the ideal time to quit is immediately. However, we realize that not all mothers will quit immediately which is unfortunate. The benefits of quitting for both you are your baby are tremendous. Once you've made the decision to quit seek out a support group to help you succeed. Smoking during pregnancy poses some very real risks and we will talk about those risks here.
When a woman smokes while she is carrying her baby, all systems are essentially under attack from hundreds of known chemicals added to cigarettes. The baby's immune system is compromised, and the effect of that is the general tendency to be sick more often with colds and other infections. There are known complications to the respiratory system as evidenced by a slew of potential problems positively correlated to smoking during pregnancy. Children of mothers who smoked while pregnant can also have problems with normal growth.
Infants of smoking mothers are displaying an interesting trend. The babies in this category tend to have a higher heart rate than babies whose mothers did not smoke. A baby born to a smoking mother will have a heart rate that is about 30% higher than a baby whose mother doesn't smoke. This is speaking specifically about women who smoked during pregnancy. It is difficult to know the exact cause of this condition. But it may be due in part to the baby not receiving the normal amount of oxygen because of the smoking.
More children are being diagnosed with ADHD or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. In fact, millions of diagnoses are made each year, and the figure appears to be climbing each year. Smoking at least half a pack a day, increases your child's tendency toward hyperactivity, although there are many other causes of ADHD. This increased hyperactivity increases a child's risk of being diagnosed with ADHD.
This should be a tremendous cause for concern for women who smoke while pregnancy.
The highly negative effects on her baby are enormous and incompletely understood. The issues discussed have mainly focused on the unborn baby but these problems don't disappear after birth. These consequences are far reaching and can affect the child well into adulthood. The child can be left dealing with the consequences of their mother smoking while pregnant for their entire life. This is why it is extremely important to quit smoking for the sake of both the mother and the baby.
