“Every woman is strongly advised to stop smoking as early as possible during pregnancy,” advises American neuroscientist Lise Eliot. Find out why pregnant women should not smoke or be exposed to secondhand smoke under any circumstances and what the consequences of smoking during pregnancy can be for an unborn baby here.
Consequences of smoking during pregnancy
Each dose of nicotine leads to an undersupply of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus via reduced blood flow to the placenta, resulting in impaired growth and development. The consequences known to date include:
- An increased risk of miscarriage or premature birth.
- A birth weight that is too low
- Problems during birth
- An increased risk of malformations, congenital heart defects, or intellectual disabilities
- The increased risk from sudden infant death syndrome (SID).
- Hyperactivity (ADHD), behavioral problems, speech disorders and learning difficulties at school age.
- The development of allergies and respiratory diseases such as asthma
The damage that can occur in a child if his mother smokes during pregnancy is also known as fetal tobacco syndrome.
Underweight newborn underestimated as a risk
Newborn underweight in particular has been underestimated as a health risk. Because even if after a few weeks the lightweights have caught up with the non-smoking babies on the scales, this does not eliminate the difference: because babies who are too light at birth and have to gain a lot of weight in the first weeks of life to get to a normal weight are often plagued by morbid obesity as adults – a fate that every responsible mother should spare her child if possible.
Children often become smokers themselves later
The consequences for children who are already confronted with nicotine during pregnancy are more far-reaching than many smokers want to admit. Thus, in addition to the direct damage to the child’s health, there is a very high risk that the child will later become a smoker himself. It does not matter whether the mother smokes herself or whether the pregnant woman is exposed to the smoke of others.
Pregnant smoking: late effects of nicotine.
But cigarette use during pregnancy has other late effects on the baby. In a long-term study published in the British health journal BMJ*, which had its beginning in 1958, 17,000 women were asked about their smoking habits during their pregnancies and the health of their children was documented over many years. The results were clear: Of the children whose mothers had smoked during pregnancy, a significantly higher number suffered from diabetes or morbid obesity at the age of 33 than in the control group, who had had no contact with the neurotoxin nicotine in the womb. Apparently, the mother’s addiction causes a lifelong metabolic disorder in her unborn child.
Quitting: 6 tips for quitting smoking during pregnancy.
Quitting smoking is recommended at any point in pregnancy – the earlier, the better. The following tips can help you successfully quit smoking during pregnancy:
- Talk to your family doctor or gynecologist about your plan to get support and advice.
- If your partner also smokes, you should quit together – this way you can support and motivate each other.
- A conscious change in diet, which often occurs anyway on the occasion of pregnancy, can help prevent unintended weight gain as a result of quitting smoking.
- Relaxation techniques such as yoga or autogenic training are helpful means to get stress and tension better under control.
- If you are at risk of relapsing, remember: nicotine replacement products such as nicotine patches or gum are still better than cigarettes – because they get more toxic substances that can harm your baby. Talk to your doctor about this.
- Remember, every cigarette you don’t smoke is a success and helps protect your baby’s health.
If the stop smoking is successful, stay strong after pregnancy.Because even while breastfeeding or during your baby’s later development, smoking harms not only your child’s health, but your own.
