Is smoking dangerous during pregnancy? Pregnancy and smoking. Smoking in early pregnancy

Nicotine and pregnancy are incompatible concepts, the harm of smoking for pregnant women is undeniable. When answering the question whether it is possible to smoke during pregnancy, one should understand the full extent of the risk; it is important to understand why smoking during pregnancy is dangerous for the fetus and mother, when, and at what period, a cigarette is most dangerous for the unborn child.

Consequences of smoking during pregnancy

The main harm, according to doctors, is that passive smoking during pregnancy causes a number of harmful consequences for the baby. At the same time, the baby physically does not have the opportunity to free himself from this addiction, and, given the weight of the embryo itself, its vulnerability, every cigarette smoked by a woman poses a real danger to the child’s life.

When a particular dose of nicotine is regularly ingested into the body, the expectant mother provokes in the child a lot of pathological changes in the structure of internal organs and systems. The following negative changes and pathologies in the fetus during pregnancy can be identified:

Disturbances in the structure and functioning of the brain and neural tube, which can ultimately provoke intrauterine death of the child or disability.
Underdevelopment in the structure of the muscle corset.
Spontaneous mutations (as a result - congenital deformities), cases of sudden infant death and early oncology.
Weakened immunity and chronic diseases of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
Delays in both physical and mental development.

Important! Negative consequences for a child do not always appear immediately after the baby is born; they can show themselves a year or even several decades after birth. And the children themselves, having matured, begin to follow the not very best example of their parents.

Impact on the mother's body

You should not assume that smoking affects the fetus itself - a smoking mother is also at risk. First of all, experts say that smoking during pregnancy affects the functioning of the entire internal reproductive system.

In order to understand why smoking is dangerous for the expectant mother, first of all, it is worth mentioning the risk of developing fetal presentation due to the incorrect location of the placenta. In some cases, it blocks the os of the uterus and the child cannot be born naturally. In this case, doctors resort to caesarean section.

The effect of smoking on pregnancy and maternal health:

Anemia and intrauterine death of the embryo, provoking the development of a septic process and inflammation.
Heavy bleeding and complications that make a normal pregnancy impossible.
Premature birth.

In practice, not a single gynecologist or obstetrician undertakes to predict what will happen to the child and mother if the latter smokes cigarettes during pregnancy

The likelihood of developing anomalies and pathological processes is very, very high - according to statistics, in comparison with the norm, these risks increase 20 times.

When is smoking most dangerous?

The harm of smoking during pregnancy is observed at all stages. Negative pathological changes when a pregnant woman smokes cigarettes can be divided into groups, each of which has its own risks, to a greater or lesser extent.

Harm before pregnancy

According to doctors, if you manage to quit smoking within a given period of time, the risk of developing abnormalities in the fetus is reduced significantly, to the level of the average non-smoking woman. If a woman smokes at the time of conception, this entails a weakened immune system, the risk of developing many pathological abnormalities in the fetus, mutations and spontaneous miscarriage.

The effect of nicotine on the fetus in the first trimester

The main danger of smoking at this stage of pregnancy is that the risk of developing not only abnormalities in the fetus increases significantly, but also the likelihood of spontaneous miscarriage is high. This may be fetal freezing, or the negative effect of nicotine on the growth and intrauterine development of the fetus. Moreover, each termination of pregnancy, artificial or spontaneous, reduces the likelihood of successful conception and bearing a child in the future.

Harm of smoking during pregnancy in the 2nd and 3rd trimester

At this stage of pregnancy, the risks of developing abnormalities in the baby are also high, but the most dangerous consequence of smoking is spontaneous miscarriage. It is the poisons of tobacco smoke that provoke the aging of the placenta - through it the child cannot receive all the necessary nutrition. In this case, doctors talk about the course of such pathological abnormalities as the development of hypoxia and oxygen starvation, improper formation of organs and systems, and, above all, the brain suffers in this process.

When the placenta ceases to perform its direct functions due to wear and tear, premature intrauterine death of the fetus and the birth of a dead child may occur.

According to statistics, the risk of stillbirth increases by a third among smoking women compared to non-smoking mothers.

Is it possible for a nursing mother to smoke?

First of all, nicotine gets into the milk, which, during breastfeeding, poisons the newborn’s body. It is nicotine poisons that pose a direct threat to the child. In this case, the child simply refuses to take the breast due to the bitter taste that nicotine gives him. Refusal of natural feeding, which is very harmful, entails a weakening of the child’s immunity, he sleeps and develops poorly, and lags behind his peers in physical and mental development.

Sad facts

Pregnancy and smoking cannot be combined. This fact is confirmed by the following data. According to recent studies, children whose mothers smoked while pregnant are a third more likely to suffer from early diabetes or teenage obesity.

If a pregnant woman does not stop smoking while carrying a boy, his testicles will be much smaller in size than normal. At the same time, the level of sperm concentration in seminal fluid is reduced by 20% compared to normal values. A child whose mother smoked during pregnancy is a potential smoker.

Often, a pregnant woman does not have the willpower to completely quit smoking. All she can do to ease her conscience is to reduce the number of cigarettes she smokes. It has long been proven that every cigarette is harmful, causing an irreparable blow to the intrauterine child.

The most dangerous consequences of smoking by an expectant mother are:

The danger of developing childhood leukemia. The cause of the disease is the negative effects of nicotine and other toxic substances that affect the development of bone marrow. The intrauterine baby develops defective cells. The salvation for the baby is a bone marrow transplant after birth. A shortage of donor material often leads to the death of a child.
Due to lack of oxygen, the child suffocates, and the mother reassures herself that the baby has grown and is cramped in the uterus. At the same time, the baby also experiences a deficiency of nutrients, without which there cannot be full growth and development.
Due to a lack of necessary microelements, a child of a smoking mother is born with a low weight. He can be saved if intensive care is given urgently.

Congenital anomalies as consequences of smoking during pregnancy

Cigarette toxins, entering the body of an intrauterine child through the placenta, cause serious complications, leading to the development of pathologies of the nasopharynx, cardiac system, and strabismus. Often the baby is lagging behind in mental development.

At school, children of smoking mothers are not able to master the curriculum and have difficulty adapting socially. Many smoking mothers believe that abruptly quitting smoking during pregnancy will cause stress in the development of the baby, which will lead to negative results. It is not true.

By quitting smoking at any stage of pregnancy, the expectant mother gives her child a chance to develop

Doctors have found that smoking by the expectant mother in the early stages of pregnancy leads to the appearance of “cleft lip” and “cleft palate” when the child is born with a facial cleft.

The effect of nicotine on the baby's psyche

Scientists have proven that nicotine not only destroys the physical health of the baby, but also damages the psyche of the intrauterine child. Children of smoking mothers at an early age differ from their peers. They are inattentive, often hyperactive, and their intelligence is below average. Children in this category are usually aggressive and have a tendency to cheat.

According to statistics, children of smoking mothers are 2 times more likely to develop autism, a mental pathology when a person does not come into contact with the surrounding reality. Scientists explain these facts by the lack of oxygen received by the embryo’s brain. It has also been found that children of smoking mothers are more likely to commit crimes in later adulthood.

How does hookah smoking affect pregnancy?

The question of what happens if you smoke a hookah during pregnancy interests many. Some women, having become pregnant and unable to give up cigarettes, switch to hookah, hoping for filtration that protects smokers from the effects of toxic substances. Indeed, water or milk filtration reduces the amount of toxic substances that affect the health of the fetus, but at the same time the fetus is exposed to the harmful effects of chromium, arsenic, and lead.

When the expectant mother takes a drag from a hookah, the baby suffocates, as vascular spasms interfere with the access of oxygen to the placenta. Smoking a hookah often causes the birth of a premature baby, which then lags behind in its development. As a rule, children in this category have weak immunity and are susceptible to allergic diseases.

The mother's bad habit is also associated with club feet in children.

Advertised hookah smoking mixtures that do not contain nicotine, when burned, release tars and aromatic hydrocarbons, which have a detrimental effect on the fetus. Even with the greatest desire to smoke a cigarette, the expectant mother, knowing the consequences of smoking during pregnancy, must stop, realizing the torment it brings to her helpless baby.

Smoking during pregnancy is one of the most dangerous factors for the fetus. For all those who doubt this, we recommend reading the ingredients on any of the packs. Tar, nicotine and other completely unhelpful substances enter first the mother’s bloodstream, then into the child’s bloodstream. The degree of damage to the body largely depends... no, not on the quality of the cigarettes - all this is poison, but on the number of cigarettes smoked by the mother and on the gestational age (duration of pregnancy). Let's look in detail at why and in what cases smoking during pregnancy is especially dangerous, what consequences it can have for the child, and the easiest ways to give up this bad habit.

Why you should quit smoking

There is an opinion among people that nicotine and other components of cigarettes, since they are contained in smaller quantities in light cigarettes, mean that they are safe - the best choice for expectant mothers. But this is not true, just like the fact that it is easier to quit smoking by switching from strong cigarettes to light ones. Yes, there is a little less nicotine in light cigarettes, but not significantly. But when smoking lite cigarettes, the smoker takes deeper puffs than usual, so there is no difference.

This habit causes harm to the fetus at any stage, but it is especially dangerous in the very first weeks. And it is during this period, while women do not know about their interesting position, that an idle lifestyle is led. After all, most pregnancies are still accidental, spontaneous. In the first weeks after conception, the fetus is not yet protected by the placenta, and therefore smoking during early pregnancy can lead to various diseases that develop in utero, for example, various heart pathologies, pathologies of the skeletal system and other diseases not related to genetics. deviations.

At later stages - in the second trimester and later, smoking during pregnancy can bring consequences in the form of premature birth, premature maturation of the placenta. In addition, children of smoking mothers are often born with low birth weight. A child of a mother who has this bad habit, in any case, to one degree or another suffers from hypoxia (lack of oxygen) before birth. Just imagine that while smoking a cigarette and for a few minutes after that, the child does not have enough oxygen. For an adult organism, perhaps such short-term asphyxia is not so dangerous, but it has a very negative effect on an unborn child.

And if you smoke just a little

Here it is - another misconception. It is clear that the less you smoke, the less harm your child will experience. However, no matter what anyone says, it is much easier for a pregnant woman to quit smoking at once, rather than pull 1-2 cigarettes a day. Ask - why? The thing is that even despite the weakening of nicotine addiction, a woman will wait every day for the treasured hour to relax with a cigarette. And this, believe me, causes much greater suffering than a quick and complete refusal.

We hope that we have fairly fully covered the question “is it possible to smoke during pregnancy.” We wish all future mothers who smoke a speedy recovery from this unpleasant and dangerous addiction.

05.08.2019 17:22:00
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02.08.2019 17:46:00

Smoking during pregnancy is the most common mistake made by expectant mothers. We will look at the consequences of this bad habit and statistical data obtained from a study of the course of pregnancy, childbirth and extrauterine life of children born to smoking mothers.

Consequences of smoking during pregnancy in the first trimester

As you know, it is in the first trimester that all organs and systems of the human body are formed. Later, they will only improve, and the fetus will grow and gain weight. Any, even minor, negative factor can provoke a “fading” pregnancy or spontaneous miscarriage. And one of these negative factors, which is very common, is smoking. Statistical studies show that the frequency of miscarriages in pregnant women who smoke is approximately 2 times higher than in non-smokers. There is something to think about... The second point is various congenital developmental pathologies. Pathologies of the neural tube, skeletal system and much, much more threaten if you don’t stop smoking during early pregnancy. The more cigarettes a woman smokes, the greater the danger. However, even such seemingly insignificant quantities as 4-5 cigarettes also have a very detrimental effect. Remember that light cigarettes are no less dangerous than strong ones.

Consequences of smoking in the second and third trimesters

In the second trimester, the placenta begins to function in full force. Through it, the baby receives nutrients and oxygen. When smoking, this physiological process may not go according to plan. When smoking, insufficient oxygen enters the child’s body, which can cause a condition such as acute or chronic hypoxia. In addition, smoking during pregnancy has consequences in the form of a prematurely ripened placenta. During pregnancy, the placenta gradually “ages” and begins to function worse. There are 4 stages of placental maturity. The 3rd - 4th stage should normally only occur in the last 1-2 weeks before urgent birth. The doctor determines the stage of maturity using an ultrasound. If the placenta is too thin and irregular in shape, then there is a high probability of intrauterine death of the baby or premature birth.

By the way, smoking during pregnancy may be one of the good reasons for the onset of premature labor. Smoking mothers are several times more likely to give birth to premature babies. But even babies born at term have lower birth weight. By the way, as studies show, this is influenced not only by smoking during pregnancy, but also before it occurs. One of the actions of nicotine is to constrict blood vessels. While the vessels are in this state, the child does not receive enough nutrition and oxygen. In addition, this condition can be dangerous for the woman herself, especially if she is prone to thrombosis.

Stillborn babies are born to smoking mothers approximately 20% more often than to non-smokers, and when smoking more than a pack a day - by 35%. Much depends not only on the fact of smoking, in this case, but also on social status and the presence of other unfavorable factors. If, in addition to smoking, a woman drinks alcohol, has sexually transmitted diseases and other infections, and has a poor diet, then the risk is very high.

Long-term consequences

Many women are confident that if smoking during pregnancy did not immediately leave visible negative consequences, then everything would have turned out okay. This is wrong. In children born to women who smoke, increased risk of dying in the first year of life from sudden cardiac arrest(this phenomenon happens in some babies for seemingly no reason). The risk is significantly higher for those women who smoked throughout the second half of pregnancy.

Congenital developmental pathologies. Cleft lip, cleft palate, inguinal hernia, strabismus and even Down syndrome - all of this can be caused by smoking during early and late pregnancy, especially if the mother is over 35 years old. Children are prone to various diseases of the respiratory system: bronchitis, pneumonia, etc.

In women who were unable or unwilling to give up cigarettes and continued to smoke while breastfeeding, less milk is produced and it can acquire an unpleasant bitter taste, which causes most children to refuse the breast and become formula-fed, respectively.

Mental development may also lag behind, although not as significantly. Children of smoking mothers usually start reading and counting late, and their logical thinking is less developed. Various intellectual tests show not very high results. However, there are exceptions.

Is it possible not to quit smoking completely during pregnancy?

Many ladies are concerned about the question of whether it is possible to simply reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke, and not completely give up smoking. Many heavy smokers feel that they simply will not be able to get rid of the bad habit and will suffer greatly due to this restriction. But stress does not benefit not only the mother, but also the child. Therefore, some even doctors do not advise abruptly quitting smoking, only to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked to a minimum. Of course, reducing the number of cigarettes will reduce the likelihood of the above-described pathologies, but the risk will still remain higher than for non-smokers. In addition, gradually giving up cigarettes like this is in many cases even more difficult psychologically than stopping smoking right away.

You can quit by willpower, having read about the harmful effects of nicotine and other harmful substances, or you can use one of the well-known methods - there is a lot of useful literature to help quitters.

Remember that smoking during pregnancy cannot be beneficial in any way. Get over yourself, think about the health of your child and yours, by the way, too. Life without cigarettes is more pleasant in every sense!

02.08.2019 17:46:00

Smoking and pregnancy are incompatible concepts. However, not all women understand the risk to the unborn child of both their own smoking and passive smoking. And the harm of this bad habit can affect not only the child, but also interfere with the process of conception itself. Let’s take a closer look at how smoking affects a child’s health before the mother’s pregnancy, as well as during pregnancy, and how you can forget about cigarettes quickly and painlessly.

Smoking before conception

Who would have thought, but smoking is one of the causes of infertility. What is this statement based on? The fact is that scientists have found that a woman who smokes loses her eggs much more often. This is due to the negative effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which enter the body along with tobacco smoke. The likelihood of conception is reduced by approximately half (depending on how often you smoked before pregnancy).

Women with this bad habit are much more likely to experience menstrual irregularities, ovulation occurs less frequently, and menopause occurs faster.

By the way, smoking before pregnancy is dangerous not only for the expectant mother, but also for the father. In men who smoke, the quality of sperm deteriorates (it contains fewer viable sperm), they are more likely to suffer from impotence (this is especially true for men who not only smoke, but also suffer from hypertension).

Smoking in the first trimester of pregnancy

If a woman is not planning a child and does not particularly monitor her monthly cycle, then she may not immediately notice that she is already pregnant. Thus, habitual smoking before pregnancy continues after its onset. What does this mean? As you know, the very first weeks of embryo development are the most dangerous in terms of the development of various intrauterine pathologies, as well as the likelihood of miscarriage and fading of pregnancy. Even a sudden change in climate or stress can trigger spontaneous abortion, not to mention smoking, especially if it is frequent (more than 5 cigarettes per day). The harm of smoking largely depends on the number of cigarettes smoked, as well as on the gestational age and other unfavorable factors that occur. Thus, smoking can provoke developmental defects in children whose mothers (smokers) are over 35 years old, since at this age, even without smoking, the risk of having a defective child is increased. For this age, smoking and pregnancy are a very dangerous combination, because carrying a child is a considerable burden on the cardiovascular system, and smoking only increases this burden, aggravates chronic diseases and leads to new ones.

While smoking cigarettes, and also for some time after this, the blood vessels remain in a narrowed state. Thus, during this period of time, the child may not receive enough oxygen and nutrients, which can lead to his death, if we are talking about the early stages. In later years, chronic hypoxia becomes the cause of congenital diseases. By the way, it has been scientifically proven that smoking mothers are more likely to give birth to children with developmental defects such as cleft palate, cleft lip, etc. They say that this is explained precisely by the lack of oxygen during intrauterine life. Even though these defects can now be treated surgically, you can do without surgery if you just don’t smoke...

Smoking in late pregnancy

If you smoke more than 5-10 cigarettes a day during pregnancy, this can provoke life-threatening pathologies not only for the child, but also for his mother, such as placental abruption. When placental abruption occurs, severe bleeding begins, which can only be stopped with surgery. For long periods of time, doctors resort to emergency cesarean section, but the child can be saved in rare cases, and those who survive often remain disabled, since when the placenta is abruption, the fetus experiences acute hypoxia. Imagine that your mouth and nose are covered, how long can you last without oxygen?

Pregnancy and smoking in combination with it provokes an exacerbation of hypertension, if it occurs. But even if not, then smoking can be the first bird that will cause the development of late toxicosis (preeclampsia) - also a very serious complication that threatens a woman’s life if timely treatment is not followed.

If you smoke during pregnancy, you may not carry the baby to term as prescribed by your doctor. Very often, mothers who smoke, regardless of whether they are giving birth for the first time or not, experience premature birth. We don’t think it’s worth talking about the difficulty of caring for a premature baby... And extremely premature babies very rarely grow up healthy in terms of health. In addition, women who smoke experience dystrophic changes in the placenta due to the negative influence of harmful substances contained in cigarettes. Thus, a poorly functioning placenta cannot provide the child with nutrients and oxygen in normal quantities, and therefore, even a child born at term has a weight and height less than the average.

In severe cases, stillborn babies can occur even late in pregnancy. Again, smoking plays an important role here, which, in combination with other unfavorable factors, for example, drinking alcoholic beverages, infections and other diseases, can lead to intrauterine fetal death. Research shows that the risk of stillbirth is higher even among women who smoke 4 cigarettes a day, and it doesn’t really matter whether it’s light or strong cigarettes.

After birth

Although the topic of our article is pregnancy and smoking, it is still worth describing what happens to children whose blood has received harmful substances from the cigarettes smoked by their mothers. Such children have a high risk of developing various pulmonary diseases - asthma, bronchitis, and a tendency to pneumonia. This risk becomes even greater if after birth the child becomes a passive smoker.

Surely you have heard about such a phenomenon as sudden infant death. At the age of up to 1 year, some babies' hearts stop beating for unknown reasons... The exact causes of this terrible phenomenon are not known to doctors, but studies have shown that this happens more often in families with a smoking mother.

But even if the consequences of smoking are not immediately noticeable, you should not tell your friends that this habit does not affect the health of children in any way. Perhaps you were just lucky, or maybe the consequences will appear later, when the child goes to kindergarten and school. Inattention, conflict, aggressive behavior, poor memory - this is not a complete list of possible problems.

Should I quit?

It’s clear what will happen if you smoke during pregnancy. But they say that throwing will not have a positive effect on the child’s body. This is a double-edged sword. If the mother smokes a lot - more than a pack a day, the child also becomes dependent on nicotine and in this case it is not worth quitting abruptly; it is better to gradually, systematically reduce the number of cigarettes smoked. If their number is initially much smaller, then it is better to refuse. You will not regret! Even if you have been smoking for quite a long time, remember that nicotine addiction disappears within a few days, and the psychological one will be overcome by just realizing that the child is good now, but when he smoked it was bad. If you read women's forums, you can see that it is easiest to get rid of this bad habit when you are in an interesting position. Awareness of responsibility + toxicosis allows you to give up cigarettes quickly and without stress. But it’s better to forget about smoking before pregnancy, it will be easier for you and the baby will not suffer.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health 20% expectant mothers smoke and only fifth Some of them give up this bad habit after learning about their situation. Given the sad statistics, scientists are actively studying the effect of smoking on pregnancy and fetal development.

It has been noticed that for a woman who smokes, bearing a child becomes a challenge, because they endure a huge load on the cardiovascular system. Increased toxicosis, weakness, shortness of breath and dizziness are the consequences of nicotine addiction during pregnancy. Every cigarette smoked has a negative impact on both the mother and her unborn child.

From the article you will learn

How does a mother’s bad habit affect the development of the fetus?

Due to tobacco addiction the balance of prolactin and progesterone in the mother’s body is disrupted, which affects placental tissue. It becomes thinner, its mass decreases, and ultrastructural changes occur in it. Toxins damage its barrier, limiting the supply of nutrients.

The child experiences hypovitaminosis, folic acid deficiency. The embryo is most vulnerable, therefore gynecologists recommend quitting smoking even before conception.

Smoking in the second and third trimesters slows down the formation of important body systems. The brain, liver, kidneys are organs whose slow development doctors detect in a child. Malnutrition occurs when the characteristics of fetal development do not fully correspond to the phase of pregnancy.

Photos of how smoking during pregnancy affects the child

These pictures were taken with an ultrasound scanner. The upper part is a photograph of a child of a smoking woman. You can see how often he touches his face, unlike a non-smoking child. Research shows that the older a child gets, the less they touch their face, which indicates the successful formation of the central nervous system and overall development.

The effect of smoking on infant mortality

Just 5 cigarettes daily can lead to the death of a child due to rupture or abruption of the placenta. Without timely medical intervention miscarriage or intrauterine fetal death is likely up to 28 weeks of pregnancy. In addition to miscarriages, mothers who smoke are at risk of stillbirth. The rate of premature birth among mothers who smoke is more than 20%, and premature babies have serious health problems.

In later stages, the cause is placenta previa, when the fetal membrane cannot hold the baby within itself. Early labor directly correlates with the number of cigarettes a woman smokes every day.

The small son or daughter of a woman who smokes during pregnancy has a 3 times higher than normal risk of getting sudden death syndrome. It manifests itself as the spontaneous death of a newborn in a dream, and during an autopsy it is difficult for an expert to discover the cause of death.

Children of parents dependent on tobacco are born weak, sickly, with signs of nicotine hunger (insomnia, crying, nervousness, breathing problems). As a consequence, they often die before reaching 1 year of age.

What will happen to the child if the mother does not leave? Possible future consequences

Smoking during any trimester of pregnancy threatens the unborn child with complications.

Infants have congenital diseases:

(valve defects, heart walls, pulmonary atresia);
(asthma, underdeveloped lungs, narrowing of the bronchi);
(infection of the esophagus, rectum);
genital organs (vaginal atresia in girls, reduction in testicular size compared to normal in boys);
musculoskeletal system (absence or abnormal size of limbs, clubfoot);

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute, located in the capital of Sweden - Stockholm, as a result of an experiment that lasted more than 30 years, found that children whose mothers smoked 10 or more cigarettes per day in late pregnancy increased by 4.5 times.

Nicotine addiction affects the appearance of newborns. They are distinguished by specific facial features:

thin lips;
"fish mouth";
wide bridge of nose;
a kind of hair growth boundary;
dysplastic ears.

Maternal smoking at 6-8 weeks of pregnancy leads to craniofacial anomalies such as cleft palate(splitting of palate tissues) and cleft lip(middle palate tear). In the future, these children often suffer from sore throat, flu and other infectious diseases due to reduced immunity.

A child of a smoking mother has a lower IQ than his peers. It is more difficult for him to learn, he has difficulty concentrating and expressing his thoughts. It is not easy for such a child to cope with social adaptation and preparation for school, because his aggressiveness is increased and his cognitive abilities are reduced.

Mental development disorders and antisocial behavior are often observed. Finally, this category of people is more likely to fall into nicotine addiction in adulthood, like their parents.

How does this habit affect fetal tobacco syndrome and what is it?

Doctors call the combination of symptoms in newborns whose mother is addicted to nicotine, fetal tobacco syndrome. The child has lack of nutrients and oxygen, excess carboxyhemoglobin and nicotine.

Children are born with insufficient height and weight less than 2.5 kg, slowly increase in these parameters, they suffer from pulmonary pathologies and mental retardation. Doctors prescribe intensive therapy for them so that they receive the necessary substances through medication, which they lacked in utero.

How does passive smoking harm an expectant mother?

We talked in detail earlier. Let us briefly recall that it is dangerous for the mother and offspring, because it increases the risk of developing anomalies and congenital pathologies of the fetus. Its harm increases in proportion to the time during which the expectant mother inhales second-hand tobacco smoke in an unventilated room.

Behind 1 hour of passive smoking The same amount of toxic substances enters the bloodstream as when smoking several cigarettes. Expectant mothers are advised to avoid the company of smoking people and smoky rooms. If the child’s father is a smoker, he should give up the bad habit altogether, or at least not smoke in the presence of his other half.

Useful video

For more information on the effects of smoking on fetal development, see below:

Conclusion

Thus, the mother’s nicotine addiction leads to hypoxia, hypovitaminosis, and pathological tachycardia of the unborn child. Smoking greatly increases the risk of miscarriage, uterine bleeding, intrauterine death and stillbirth. Children are born with low birth weight and suffer from dysfunction of a number of organs.

When planning to become pregnant, a woman who smokes should say goodbye to the addiction in advance, since toxic substances can be eliminated from the body within a year. However, giving up active and passive smoking at any stage of pregnancy has a positive effect on the development of the fetus.