Smoking During Pregnancy

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

Smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy could lead to the placenta not developing fully. As the placenta carries oxygen and blood to the foetus this may impair growth and link to low birth weights. Babies born to smoking mothers are 30% more likely to have a premature baby which could lead to respiratory distress, problems feeding and they could have difficulty regulating their body temperature. Babies undergo withdrawal like systems and tend to be more jittery and harder to settle. Babies being brought up in a smoking household are at increased risk of cot death and may go on to develop asthma during childhood.

The relationship between maternal smoking and fetal development shows that smoking raises the risk of early miscarriage and stillbirth. In the early stages of fetal development, cigarette smoke may cause genetic damage to the unborn baby. Smoking can change the lining of the uterus making it harder for the implantation of the fertilized egg. The dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes can cause a mother’s placenta to separate from the womb at a premature time. Smoking later in pregnancy appears to decrease the placenta’s ability to deliver nutrients to a developing baby. Some evidence even indicates that heavy smoking by

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.

The relationship between maternal smoking and fetal development shows that smoking raises the risk of early miscarriage and stillbirth. In the early stages of fetal development, cigarette smoke may cause genetic damage to the unborn baby. Smoking can change the lining of the uterus making it harder for the implantation of the fertilized egg. The dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes can cause a mother’s placenta to separate from the womb at a premature time. Smoking later in pregnancy appears to decrease the placenta’s ability to deliver nutrients to a developing baby. Some evidence even indicates that heavy smoking by

Also, smoking reduces the ability of the lungs to absorb oxygen. When the fetus is deprived of sufficient nourishment and oxygen, the baby may not grow as fast or as much as it should. Smoking during pregnancy can have a different effect on males as well. Research conducted in Denmark studied the differences in men who were exposed to tobacco during pregnancy and men who were not. The results were that men who were exposed to 19 cigarettes a day during pregnancy had about 19% lower semen volume and 38% lower total sperm count than those who were not exposed to smoking while in the womb. Also, children who were exposed to smoking during pregnancy may be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder more easily than children who were not exposed to smoking during pregnancy.

Among the many environmental factors that can affect infant learning, prenatal cigarette exposure has proven to be a topic of interest in behavioral teratology due to the large number of health effects it is associated with. Some of the health effects of prenatal cigarette exposure include: lower birth weight, smaller head circumference, lower IQ, attention dysfunction, hyperactivity and other conduct problems, as well as school failure (Mezzacappa, E., 2011, p. 881-891). There are some human studies that investigate the cognitive deficits related to prenatal cigarette exposure which include: auditory, visual attention, and working memory issues.

Moreover, they will have a birth weight on average 200g less than those born to non-smokers. Therefore, this could affect raises evenly such as if the mother smokes more the infant's weight will be less. The baby will have organs which are smaller than babies who born to non-smokers. The babies they will have poorer lung function as well as the infants are likely to be ill regularly. The babies born to mother that smoked fifteen cigarettes or more each day during pregnancy, they are taken to the hospital 2 times as often during the first 8 month of life. The babies could get painful diseases including; inflammation of the middle ear as well as asthmatic bronchitis more often in their early childhood. In addition, they are likely to become smokers

Smoking and Brain Cancer in WomenEducational Flyer[The educational Flyer is designed to inform young women regarding the health issues caused by smoking. Smoking not only damages overall health of women but it can also cause brain cancer. The effects of smoking on health can also be transferred to children and may result into complicacies in pregnancy]2013

With the knowledge that smoking causes approximately one in every five deaths in the United States each year, the question still remains of why people still smoke. This addiction is harmful to all those who encounter the smoke, including the unborn child who hasn’t even opened his eyes yet. Research shows that many of the components of nicotine have the ability to cross the placenta and intern result in growth and neurodevelopment problems during childhood and later on in life. There is limited research regarding the visional difficulties of children whose mother’s were exposed to smoke during pregnancy. The review article, “Smoking during pregnancy and vision difficulties in children:

Smoking during pregnancy can increase the risk of miscarriage, premature birth and low birthweight infant.

MCS has been shown to negatively impact the neurological development of a fetus, with serious damage to the nervous system. Medical studies have also concluded that smoking during pregnancy is a known cause of fetal hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, which can stunt fetal brain development. Studies have suggested that these physical

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).

Smoking while pregnant not only affects the mother, but the infant as well. The baby’s health will be affected before, during, and after the child is born. “The nicotine, carbon monoxide, and numerous other poisons”(WebMD) the mother would inhale from a cigarette are”...carried through her bloodstream and goes directly to the baby”(WebMD) which causes

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).