Health Risks While Smoking During Pregnancy

Smoking during Pregnancy

The risk of smoking during pregnancy to the unborn fetus is similar to taking drugs while pregnant. Not only does smoking during pregnancy decrease your chances of getting pregnant, it increases the risks of miscarriages, low birth-weight babies, and premature babies. Smoking also affects yours and your partner’s fertility levels and lowers sperm count, so there is really no benefit to smoking during pregnancy or smoking while trying to become pregnant.

The Risk of Smoking during Pregnancy & the Fetus

A mother smoking during pregnancy presents serious problems for an unborn baby. The nicotine that passes through the mother’s body into that of the fetus is more addictive than either heroine or cocaine. Smoking while pregnant makes your newborn’s first challenge during the first few hours of life going through nicotine withdrawal and chemical detox. Smoking during pregnancy will also provide your newborn with enough nicotine to inflict lasting damage upon the baby’s nervous system. If you’re trying to quit before your become pregnant, good for you. But remember that you have to quit without crutches such as the nicotine patch which, instead of lowering the amount of nicotine to which the unborn baby is exposed, actually increases it. In fact, the patch actually delivers more nicotine to the fetus than smoking does. Plus, many times smokers who try to quit cold turkey while using the patch end up smoking on top of using the nicotine patch. In the end, smoking while wearing the patch just increases the negative effects and the risk to the fetus of smoking during pregnancy.

For the sake of your unborn baby, please quit smoking. Not only are you putting both yourself and your baby at increased risk for cancer, you are inviting a host of health problems into your child’s life. If you need help quitting, talk to your health care provider and look to local support groups for the structure, guidance and emotional support you need to finally quit smoking once and for all.

5/25/2007 12:25:38 PM