Pregnancy is often followed by a change in lifestyle, and that includes smoking. If you can feel the effects of smoking in your body, expect that your baby is also feeling similar effects and twice as potent and twice as dangerous. Pregnant mothers that smoke often give birth to low-birth weight babies. Statistics show that pregnant mothers who smoke are most likely to also give birth pre-term. Aside from that, there are other numerous life-threatening complications that can occur to both mother and baby because of the 2,500 harmful chemicals found in just one cigarette.
It is a common knowledge that what you drink and eat is also what your baby would be getting while he’s inside of you. The same goes for smoking. What you breathe in also enters your baby’s lungs and circulation. This is because your body systems are linked to your baby via the placenta. His nutritional requirements all come from you. What your body metabolizes reaches your baby via fetal circulation.
One of the major chemicals found in cigarettes is nicotine. This compound is a potent vasoconstrictor, and can also affect the blood vessels found in the placenta. This in turn will lessen the amount of blood that will circulate in your baby’s circulation. Low blood circulation means low nutrition is also reaching your baby. The result would be slow development of your baby’s organs and other body parts.
Carbon monoxide is also another lethal chemical found in cigarettes. This chemical is very dangerous for it binds to blood cells more than oxygen as it mimics it is almost similar in molecular composition. Accumulation of carbon monoxide in the brain can hinder its development, especially during the last trimester when the brain is developing rapidly. This along with nicotine are severely damaging to developing nerve cells. This would result to learning difficulties that will last during the entire lifetime of your baby.
There are also some pregnancy complications that are linked to smoking. Placenta previa, or a low-implanted placenta is commonly observed in pregnant women who are heavy smokers. Abruptio placenta is also a pregnancy complication linked to smoking that involves premature peeling of the placenta from the uterine wall. Both complications are life-threatening conditions as they can cause bleeding problems as well as difficulty in labor and delivery.
These conditions need serious consideration, and can be motivators for you to quit smoking. Some women find it easier to quit while pregnant for they are instinctively thinking about the welfare of their baby. There are some resources that you can use to help you quit smoking while you’re pregnant. Mothers who quit half-way of their pregnancy often deliver normal-weight babies, as if they never smoked in their lives.
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