Smoking While Pregnant

Smoking While Pregnant

Smoking while pregnant is a guaranteed way to harm your unborn baby for life. It is not a question of whether or not your baby will be adversely affected by smoke and nicotine from your habit. It is a question of to what degree your baby will be harmed. The effects of smoking while pregnant are numerous. At the very least, nicotine will unnaturally regulate the flow of more than 200 neurochemicals in the mind and body of the fetus defore birth. These chemicals include adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin and more.

Pros and Cons of Smoking While Pregnant

Make no mistake: nicotine is more addictive than cocaine or heroine. Smoking while pregnant makes your newborn’s first challenge in life going through nicotine withdrawal and chemical detox. That said, there are infinitely fewer pros than cons of smoking while pregnant. Nicotine will very likely inflict lasting damage upon the baby’s nervous system. If you’re weighing the options or trying to quit and it’s just not working, there are some solutions. Opt for counseling instead of the transdermal nicotine patch. The patch actually delivers more nicotine to the fetus than smoking does. With constant nicotine delivered to the fetus, the patch does more harm to the unborn baby than the components of cigarette smoke. Often smokers who try to quit spontaneously while using the patch end up smoking on top of using the nicotine patch. In the end, smoking while wearing the patch simply does more damage to the fetus than smoking or the patch alone.

If you are not yet pregnant, quit smoking before you become pregnant. If you are already pregnant, consider counseling to help you quit smoking. You can also try changing your routine. The variation in routine may discourage your smoking habits because you may normally associate certain activities with the pleasure of smoking. Remember, it’s important to do everything you can to quit smoking before you do irreparable damage to your unborn baby. For the best ways to quit, talk to your health care provider right away.

5/25/2007 12:14:26 PM