In the United States more than 20 percent of women smoke and many of
these women smoke while they are pregnant. Smoking
can harm a woman’s
health and smoking during
pregnancy can lead to pregnancy complications
and serious health problems in newborns. The more a pregnant woman
smokes, the greater the risk to her baby. However, if a woman stops
smoking by the end of her first trimester of pregnancy, she is no more
likely to have a low birth weight baby than a woman who never smoked.
Even stopping during the third trimester can still improve the baby’s
growth.
The problems with smoking during pregnancy include:
• Risks to the baby
o Low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams) carries a range of grave
health risks for children. Babies who were undernourished in the womb
face a greatly increased risk of dying during their early months and
years. Those who survive have impaired immune function and increased
risk of disease; they are likely to remain undernourished, with reduced
muscle strength, throughout their lives, and suffer a higher incidence
of diabetes and heart disease in later life. Children born underweight
also tend to have a lower IQ and cognitive disabilities, affecting
their performance in school and their job opportunities as adults.
o Premature birth – less than 37 weeks of gestation.
o Miscarriage and stillbirths
o Learning and behaviour problems – associated with premature birth and low birth weight.
o Increased incidence of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)
o May undergo withdrawal-like symptoms. The babies appear to be more jittery and difficult to soothe than babies of non-smokers
o Suffer from more lower-respiratory illnesses (such as bronchitis and pneumonia) and ear infections than other babies.
o Some kinds of birth defects, particularly cleft lip and cleft palate
(abnormalities of the mouth that need to be corrected by surgery).
• Pregnancy complications
o Placental problems - including placenta previa (low-lying placenta
that covers part or all of the opening of the uterus) and placental
abruption (in which the placenta peels away, partially or almost
completely, from the uterine wall before delivery). Both can result in
heavy bleeding during delivery that can endanger mother and baby.
o Premature rupture of the membranes (PROM) (when the sac inside the
uterus that holds the baby breaks before labor begins). When this
occurs before 37 weeks of pregnancy it often results in the birth of a
premature baby.
Smoking also affects the reproduction before a woman becomes pregnant.
Smoker can have more trouble conceiving than non-smokers with fertility
being 30% lower. However, fertility returns to normal after a woman
stops smoking. Men also have fertility problems associated with
smoking. They have:
• reduced ejaculation volume,
• a reduced sperm count,
• the sperm motility is impaired,
• increased sperm shape abnormalities and
• the sperm are less able to penetrate the ovum.
The sperm related problems can take three months to correct. It is
suggested therefore that males quit smoking at least three months
before trying to conceive.
The good news is that the problems in pregnancy can be overcome by
quitting smoking. This is best undertaken before the pregnancy – but
stopping at any stage during the pregnancy will have a benefit for the
mother and baby. If you are pregnant or are wanting to become pregnant
then now is the time to stop. Join growerz.com and get the assistance
and support you need to successfully quit – for the sake of a healthy
baby.
References
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Smoking
Cessation during Pregnancy. ACOG Educational Bulletin, number 260,
September 2000.
Law, K.L., et al. Smoking During Pregnancy and Newborn Neurobehavior.
Pediatrics, volume 111, number 6, June 2003, pages 1318-1323.
Martin, J.A., et al. Births: Final Data for 2002. National Vital Statistics Reports, volume 52, number 10, December 17, 2003.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences
of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General—2004. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health, Atlanta Georgia,
May 2004.
Wang, X., et al. Maternal Cigarette Smoking, Metabolic Gene
Polymorphism, and Infant Birth Weight. Journal of the American Medical
Association, volume 287, number 2, January 9, 2002, pages 195-202.