Ignorance about pregnancy | Smoking during pregnancy

Ignorance about pregnancy

It is the rule that women do not know they are pregnant immediately after conception. On average, if there is no menstruation (i.e. usually not until 14 days after implantation) a pregnancy test is taken or a doctor is consulted. During the period in which a pregnancy exists but is not known, the usual nicotine consumption is usually continued to the same extent.

Furthermore, alcohol is also consumed as usual during pregnancy, which is even more dangerous. It is in the nature of the thing that a pregnancy is noticed only after a certain time, to that extent is at the fact that also up to the statement of the pregnancy still smoking is, nothing to change. However, if smoking is consistently discontinued after a positive pregnancy test or after a gynaecological examination, the risk for the expectant child of contracting a secondary disease, malformation or developmental disorder is relatively low.

Is withdrawal by the pregnant woman dangerous for the child?

There are numerous studies on the subject of withdrawal symptoms for mother and child when using nicotine. It should be remembered that physical withdrawal after stopping nicotine use practically never occurs and that there is almost always a psychological dependence. An exception is extremely heavy smokers who consume several packets a day.

Nevertheless, the body’s behavior also changes when nicotine consumption is stopped after a long period of time. There is no study that proves that consequential damage to the child is to be expected due to the mother’s withdrawal symptoms. Many children have been retrospectively examined whose mothers have stopped smoking during pregnancy or shortly before and who have reported physical symptoms such as sweating or restlessness. Unfortunately, the issue of withdrawal syndrome damage is often still widespread among children, which falsely prevents some smoking mothers from quitting smoking.

Can I get pregnant despite smoking?

Smoking and the associated nicotine consumption not only demonstrably changes the metabolism of women, but also leads to vascular constriction and circulatory disorders in the body. For a woman to become pregnant, a sensitive balance of many factors must be maintained.These include hormonal causes, blood pressure situations, toxin breakdown and other causes that could make pregnancy more difficult in this context under nicotine consumption. Nevertheless many smoking women become pregnant.

It is questionable, however, whether this pregnancy is then also successful and healthy. Similar to diabetes and thyroid dysfunction, smoking is said to have a pregnancy-pregnant effect, but it is always possible to become pregnant despite smoking.