Cigarette Smoke Essay

In this case, when a woman smokes cigarettes during her nine months she is passing all of the chemicals found in cigarettes to her unborn baby. This exchange of chemicals from mother to baby is harmful for both of their health, but especially for the baby’s health. The chemicals from nicotine poisoning that are getting passed on to the baby deprives that fetus from getting the nutrients it needs from its mother. By the time the baby is born its lungs will be in terrible condition because the nicotine chemicals have destroyed any healthy enzymes that the baby had in its body. The baby may have respiratory issues where it cannot breathe on its own. The baby will then have to be hooked up to a ventilator and placed in an incubation tube until its oxygen levels are high enough to where it can breathe on its own. In the worst case scenario, the baby might have to be placed on an organ donor transplant list to receive a new lung or lungs because the damage from the mother smoking cigarettes has completely ruined the baby’s lungs to where they are not able to be corrected by doctors. This can cause a baby to stay in the hospital for several weeks to months. A long term effect of smoking cigarettes while pregnant can cause the baby to develop asthma once it is born. The baby’s asthma can be contributed to its lungs and respiratory issues it had presented at the time of birth, which was triggered by the nicotine poisoning. A newborn can also be born with heart defects

Your baby may be affected by nicotine and toxic substances in your breast milk, secondhand smoke, and thirdhand smoke.

More then 15% of women smoking while pregnant. Babies who's mothers smoke have more then 20% higher chance of being born with cleft lip, cleft palates, shortened or missing limbs, and abnormally shaped heads compared to babies born to nonsmoking mothers. Babies born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy are even more likely to have learning disorders and behavioral problems.

According to Hill, Young, Burley, Carter & Lang (2013), smoking amongst teenage girls is the most popular risk factor during pregnancy. The numerous effects of smoking while pregnant are (a) premature births (b) still births (c) miscarriages and (d) low birth rates. There are fifty seven percent of teenage mothers that smoke

According to the Center for Disease Control, (CDC) there are toxic chemicals in cigarettes that “affect the brain in ways that interfere with its regulation of infants' breathing” (CDC, 2010). Autopsy reports also show “higher concentrations of nicotine in their lungs and higher levels of cotinine (a biological marker for secondhand smoke exposure) than infants who die from other causes” (CDC, 2010).

Constantly smoking means the baby is smoking to, therefore smoking can begin to effect the baby’s only sources of oxygen and nutrients. Smoking contains over 4,000 chemicals including: lead, cyanide, arsenic and carbon monoxide. These chemicals can spread to the blood stream, which is the baby’s only source of oxygen and nutrients. Smoking may also result with problems taking place in the placenta. This is connected to the baby and is their source of food, oxygen and eliminates buildup of wastes. The baby can separate from the womb, which can result in bleeding, for this effect can be dangerous to the mother and child.

Pathophysiology: Tobacco smoke contains 1000 different compounds including carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, carcinogens. The two main compounds that cause harmful effects on a developing fetus is nicotine and carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide has a higher affinity than oxygen for hemoglobin. Which when Carbon monoxide and hemoglobin combine they form boxy hemoglobin which is unable to carry oxygen, which leads to decreased oxygen delivery to the fetus and fetal hypoxia. Nicotine has cardiovascular and central nervous system effects. Nicotine is known to cross the placental barrier causing levels in the amniotic fluid and fetus 15% higher than the mother. The effects of cigarettes can remain with the fetus the rest of their lives. Ranging from

Infants born from mothers that smoked are three times more likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), a condition in which babies who appears healthy die suddenly while sleeping, as are babies whose mothers do not smoke during pregnancy. This is also a point of contention between researchers as well. "Children born to mothers who smoked while pregnant, and possibly children whose grandmothers smoked while pregnant, have a higher risk of developing childhood asthma (Child)." Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to be born with birth defects such as cleft lip or palate and to have low birth weight.

There are several opinions about whether if smoking is bad or not to your baby´s development during your pregnancy time, the truth is that smoking during pregnancy is a really dangerous gamble that only the mother can take or no. Smoking is bad for your health because it increase the risk of heart disease, cancer, gum disease, and just a variety of health conditions; that´s the reason for women to stop smoking for their own health, and when you are pregnant you have the responsibility of your baby´s health too. Smoking during pregnancy can cause also a lot of problems to the baby and later we are going to talk about some of them. Based on many pieces of research made by American Pregnancy Association show that 12-20 percent of pregnant women

A teratogen is defined as, “any agent that can potentially cause a birth defect or negatively alter cognitive and behavioral outcomes” (Santrock, 2013, p. 82). According to the Baby Center website, cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 teratogens that can affect prenatal development (Woolston, 1997-2014). Cigarettes are the most common nonmedical drug used during pregnancy (Key, et al., 2007, p. 623). A fetus is dependent on its mother for all of its nutrients needed to grow properly. When the mother chooses to smoke cigarettes, the fetus is starved of both oxygen and nutrients. Several studies have been done showing that this effect on prenatal development can have consequences extending beyond the womb.

Despite the extensive adverse publicity, the usage of tobacco continues in approximately 25% of all pregnancies in the United States. (Slotkin, 1988). High dosages of nicotine in fetus through maternal infusions cause harm in the nervous system development of the fetus and lessen sustainability and growth. As a result, heavy pregnant smokers were more likely to have a premature delivery. The nicotine tightens the uterine blood vessels and causes a decline of the blood flow on the uterine. Therefore, the supply of oxygen and nutrients available to the embryo decrease rapidly. This compromises cell growth and may have an incompatible effect on the mental development of the offspring. Moreover, prenatal nicotine exposure not only resulted in a

The adverse effects of exposure to tobacco smoke while in utero and during early childhood are well documented, with detrimental consequences occurring within the lungs and brain, resulting in decreased intelligence and behavioural changes, such as heightened excitability (1,2). Tobacco smoke exposure occurs prenatally from smoking mothers, or postnatally by environmental tobacco exposure, and has been associated with low birth weight and head circumference, and creates vasoconstriction resulting in reduced blood flow to the uterus, initiating oxygen and nutrient deprivation (1). Additionally, tobacco smoke targets the developing nervous system, resulting in cell proliferation and differentiation alterations in utero, and abnormal synaptic activity during infancy (1). Synapses regulate intercellular communication within the brain, and are formed via a variety of guidance cues and recognition signals, which direct outgrowing axons precisely to the target cell (3), with abnormal activity ultimately leading to cell loss and neuronal damage (1).

Cigarettes generally contain 4,000 chemicals and 60 cancer causing compounds. The most toxic and dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes are Tar and Nicotine. These chemicals have terrible long term effects on pregnant women and life threatening effects for the babies of pregnant smokers. The tar that is found in cigarettes settles in the lungs of a pregnant smoker’s baby and stimulates a number of changes that lead to lung diseases and cancer. Nicotine is the addictive chemical in cigarettes that releases adrenaline and increases heart rate. When pregnant mothers smoke, nicotine enters their blood stream and travels to their baby in the uterus. This causes the baby to experience increased heart rate and fetal distress. Some babies are also known to develop

Smoking starts causing harm, even to the unborn. A mother is a baby`s only form of life support through the umbilical cord. So,

In particular, “the reduced brain size that we saw in smokers' babies could lead to impaired cognitive ability of the child" (Smoking during pregnancy, 2003). A study by Drews, Murphy, Yeargin, Allsopp and Decoufle (1996) looked at mental retardation in children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy and concluded that smoking during pregnancy increases by 50 percent the likelihood that a child will have mental retardation. Maternal smoking during pregnancy is also a recognized risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).