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Smoking During Pregnancy Research Paper

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During pregnancy there is lots of choices to be made but choosing to smoke should never cross a pregnant women's mind. Smoking during pregnancy has lots of horrible effects to an unborn child including low birth weight. Smoking during pregnancy can cause the baby to be born with birth defects. Smoking during pregnancy can cause asthma and and lung problems for the baby. Smoking during pregnancy has several dangerous causes to a newborn including low birth weight, birth defects, and even lung problems.

One out of five babies who's mothers smoke while pregnant are born with low birth weight. Cigarettes contain more then 4,000 chemicals but even though none of these chemicals are good for a baby nicotine and carbon monoxide are what effects the baby most. Nicotine and carbon monoxide get into the babies bloodstream, the only source of oxygen and nutrients. When nicotine and carbon monoxide work together and …show more content…

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.

Women who smoke during pregnancy are 75% more likely to have children with asthma and 39% more likely of having children with wheezing. Research shows that smoking while pregnant can change the structure of a babies DNA, which weakens the immune system. Maternal smoking is more dangerous to the lungs in the first trimester then in the second and third trimester. Babies born to smoking mothers are likely to have breathing problems at birth from the delayed lung development caused by the chemicals in

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