Discover how smoking during pregnancy affects the unborn child.

1. Effects of Smoking during
Pregnancy
By
http://2stopsmokingtips.com

2. Introduction
• There is no doubt about the fact that smoking
during pregnancy has negative side effects.
They include lower birth weights, stillbirths,
poor fetal growth, premature delivery,
spontaneous abortions and respiratory
problems once the baby is born. The U.S.
Public Health Service states that if pregnant
women ceased smoking, there would be an
11% drop in U.S. stillbirths and a 5% decrease
in newborn deaths.

3. Smoking During Pregnancy is
Dangerous
• Smoking during pregnancy is like putting
poison in your unborn baby’s system. This can
affect your child’s whole life. In spite of the
warnings, 10% of women in the United States
still own up to smoking during pregnancy. The
1990 report of the US Surgeon General has
stated that ‘smoking is probably the most
important modifiable cause of poor pregnancy
outcome among women in the United States’.

4. Why is it risky to smoke during
pregnancy?
• Of all these 4,000-plus chemicals, two
compounds are especially injurious (carbon
monoxide and nicotine) as Medical experts say
they are responsible for almost every pregnancy
complication that has to do with smoking. This is
because nicotine and carbon monoxide
collaborate to decrease your baby’s supply of
oxygen. Nicotine obstructs the free flow of
oxygen by tightening blood vessels throughout
your body; the ones in the umbilical cord are not
spared.

5. Why is it risky to smoke during
pregnancy?(2)
• The situation can be likened to forcing your baby
to inhale through a narrow straw. To worsen the
situation, the red blood corpuscles that transmit
oxygen start to draw in molecules of carbon
monoxide instead. Suddenly, that narrow straw
doesn’t even hold as much oxygen as it should.
• As a result, your baby gets less oxygen and
pronto, his or her development and growth is
hampered. This can result in a baby being born
too early or weighing less than 5 1/2 pounds at
birth. It can even result in a still birth.

6. Below are the effects of smoking
during pregnancy
• Smoking cigarettes increases a woman’s risk of
excessive bleeding during delivery. This can cause
complications for both mother and child but the
reverse will be the case if you quit smoking the
moment you discover you are pregnant.
• Brain Damage – Each time a pregnant woman
drags cigarette smoke into her lungs, she reduces
the amount of oxygen that is supposed to go to
the baby. This has the capability to cause brain
damage during gestation.

7. Below are the effects of smoking
during pregnancy(2)
• Pregnant smokers are very likely to give birth
to their baby prematurely. Babies born early
have more serious health problems than
babies born near their expected delivery date
(EDD).

8. Below are the effects of smoking
during pregnancy(3)
• Preterm labor and Low birth weight- Smoking
during pregnancy slows the growth of the baby
before it is born. The more a pregnant woman
smokes, the greater her chance of having a low-
birth-weight baby (less than 5½ pounds). Low-
birth-weight babies often have health challenges
as a result of being born so tiny. In the year 2004,
11.9 percent of babies delivered by smokers in
the United States weighed less than 5½ pounds,
compared to 7.2 percent of babies of women
who never smoked.

9. Below are the effects of smoking
during pregnancy(4)
• The more a pregnant woman smokes, the
greater her risk of having a low-birth weight
baby. However, if a woman stops smoking
before week 15 of pregnancy, their risk of
spontaneous premature birth and having
small babies becomes the same as women
who don’t smoke. This is according to a
research published on the British Medical
Journal website.

10. Below are the effects of smoking
during pregnancy(5)
• A child born by a smoking mother is very likely
to have respiratory problems once born. Each
time you drag in cigarette smoke, the cord
carrying oxygen and nutrients to the baby
tightens. As time goes by, the cord can
completely get severed and the baby gets less
oxygen. This results in babies with low birth
weight or breathing problems like asthma or
bronchitis.

11. Below are the effects of smoking
during pregnancy(6)
• Still talking about respiratory problems, let’s
quickly look at asthma. Cigarette smoking
does cause asthma to babies born by smoking
mothers. About 26,000 children develop
asthma (every year) because they’re exposed
to so much secondhand smoke. Smoking has
horrible effects on everyone, especially
children.

12. Below are the effects of smoking
during pregnancy(7)
• The baby of a smoking mother is more likely to
die of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). SIDS
can be defined as the unexpected and
unexplainable (after detailed medical
investigation) death of a child less than 12
months of age. Sometimes called Crib or Cot
death, it’s also known as sudden unexplained
death in infancy (SUDI). According to the SIDS
Network, “many more children die of SIDS in a
year than all who die of cancer, heart disease,
pneumonia, child abuse, AIDS, cystic fibrosis and
muscular dystrophy combined.”

13. Below are the effects of smoking
during pregnancy(8)
• Stillbirths – A study published in the April 2011
edition of the journal Pediatrics, found
secondhand smoking blew up the risk of still birth
by almost 23 per cent. It was also connected to a
13 per cent increased risk of inherited birth
defects.
• Even if the pregnant woman doesn’t smoke,
breathing in the passive smoke of other people
increases the danger of giving birth to stillborn
babies or babies with defects.

14. How to Motivate Yourself to Quit
While Pregnant
• You can motivate yourself to quit smoking
during pregnancy by looking at the effects of
smoking. Looking at pictures of individuals
with lung cancer and other type of
complications that came from smoking will
also help. Yet another strong motivator is
thinking about your kids not having a mother,
your husband not having a wife because you
decided to smoke.

15. How to Motivate Yourself to Quit
While Pregnant(2)
• Some women think that being pregnant is
motivation enough, but for most people,
thinking about being terminally ill or, even
worse, dying could be the best motivator.
• Also read magazines or books about what
smoking while pregnant could do to the
babies. This will keep you focused.

16. Avoid Secondhand Smoke
• Aside abstaining from smoking during
pregnancy, mothers should not smoke when
the baby is born. Neither should anyone
around them; get support from your spouse.
He should be able to quit for the sake of your
unborn child.
• If your husband also smokes, you can decide
to quit together. Working as a team really
helps.

17. Avoid Secondhand Smoke(2)
• Smoking while pregnant is like gambling with
your child’s health. While we agree some
children, whose mothers smoked and drank
during pregnancy, have no health
complications, there are far more that come
out with all kinds of health challenges and the
pains they go through cannot be equated to
whatever pleasure the mothers allegedly got
from smoking. It’s just not worth the risk.

18. How to Quit Smoking during
Pregnancy
• Even though all the tips in this article have
been well researched, we will like to say that
you consult your doctor and follow his
instructions if you want to quit smoking during
pregnancy.
• First, you have to really want to quit. Then tell
your self that you CAN quit smoking, don’t
doubt it, because doubt will make you think
it’s okay to just have one more cigarette.

19. How to Quit Smoking during
Pregnancy(2)
• Also, keep a water bottle by your side at all times.
Each time you get the urge to smoke, drink some
water. It will help flush the nicotine out of your
system faster. A sip of orange juice now and then
will also help calm the cravings.
• Going cold turkey may help but have some gum
or lozenges, in case you’re really tempted.
Quitting cold turkey may not affect your baby,
especially if you quit very early in your pregnancy.
Ask your Doctor to be sure though.

20. How to Quit Smoking during
Pregnancy(3)
• Remind yourself how the money you are spending on
cigarettes can go towards baby things!
• Also, try eating balanced and healthy meals; this keeps
you in the right frame of mind and helps your body
function well.
• Remind yourself that the first 3 days are the hardest,
but once you’re over that, it gets easier. And every
single smoke or puff you have after that destroys all
your hard work! Just stay strong and remember the
longer you keep smoking, the harder it gets to quit.

21. How to Quit Smoking during
Pregnancy(4)
• Aside drinking lots of water, please do lots of
exercise as a study recently showed that
exercise could be a useful tool in helping
pregnant women to give up smoking.
• You may not be able to use nicotine
replacement therapies while pregnant and
medications like chantix are not approved for
use during pregnancy. You will have to consult
your doctor for further advice.

22. How to Quit Smoking during
Pregnancy(5)
• Choose a date (around the corner) that you are
going to give up cigarettes and toss them out that
day. The first day to the third may be tasking (as
you already expect), but by the 4th day, you’ll be
fine.
• Try to have enough SLEEP as it can help you get
through the initial hours of quitting smoking.
• You can also quit through hypnosis. It has worked
for others, it may work for you.

23. How to Quit Smoking during
Pregnancy(6)
• One thing you should note while trying to quit
is; we are all different and our bodies handle
things differently. Follow your doctor’s
instructions religiously in order to quit
smoking successfully. Remember people quit
smoking every day and so can you. Stay
strong, you can do it, and find support
wherever people are willing to give it.

24. Smoking during Breastfeeding is bad
• The nicotine and all the other toxins that are
in cigarette smoke do cross into breast milk,
just as they do cross the placenta while a baby
is in the womb, so, please abstain from
smoking during breastfeeding. You are passing
toxins into your baby’s system.

25. Smoking during Breastfeeding is
bad(2)
• There you have it, effects of smoking during
pregnancy. They are so terrible and even if
quitting sounds a little bit tough, just remind
yourself that the health of your little tot is all
that matters. Download this free smoking
during pregnancy ebook for more help. You
will also find this ebook by the campaign for
tobacco-free kids useful.

26. Thank You for Reading!!!
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please visit
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