 Smoking
in Pregnancy
Uproar followed the publication of a photograph of Kate Moss puffing on a cigarette
despite being several months pregnant. And Sarah Jessica Parker, whose Sex and the City character Carrie Bradshaw can barely survive an hour without a Marlboro Light, has been furiously chewing nicotine gum to beat the cravings as she awaits the birth of her first child. So, what are the risks of smoking whilst pregnant?
You probably already know that smoking increases your risk of lung cancer
and heart attacks. But did you know that women who smoke are more likely
to develop cancer of the cervix, and that smoking is to blame in some
way for one in three middle-aged deaths?
If you smoke when pregnant you are harming your baby as well as yourself. A baby born
to a smoker is:
- More likely than other babies to be abnormal in some way
- More likely to have an unhealthy placenta
- Twice as likely to be born prematurely
- Three times more likely to be underweight at birth (even if he is born on time)
- More likely than other babies to die suddenly in the first year of his life (a cot death)
Do not be misled into thinking that labour with a small baby is easier. A small baby
has less strength to cope with labour, and runs a greater risk of dying at this time.
Being born small can affect a baby’s health well into adulthood.
How smoking harms your baby
Each time you smoke a cigarette you breathe in a gas called carbon monoxide. This gas
interferes with the transport of oxygen in your blood, and your baby’s supply of
oxygen is reduced. Without a good supply of oxygen, your baby’s growth may be
stunted.
The nicotine in cigarettes causes further harm. Nicotine narrows the blood vessels in
the placenta, and this reduces still more the amount of oxygen and nutrients flowing to
your baby. Nicotine also makes your baby’s heart beat faster. Recent research has
shown that the nicotine from each cigarette you smoke passes to your baby and collects in
the fluid in which he floats.
By smoking cigarettes low in carbon monoxide, nicotine and tar you may slightly reduce
the effects of smoking on your baby.
For many women, cigarettes offer a short escape from the pressures of everyday life and
giving up smoking is not easy. But for the sake of your baby you have to try, or at least
to cut down. It is never too late in pregnancy to stop, or to reduce the number and
strength of cigarettes. Your baby will immediately feel the benefits.
There is plenty of support and advice available to women who want to
stop smoking. Ask your midwife for information about local help, telephone
Quitline on 0800 002200 and why not visit babyworld's
Giving up forum where you'll find plenty of support?
Where to next?
|
