By Lindsay M Fox
If you are a regular smoker who
plans to have a baby then you
have serious thinking to do. You
need to take good care of
yourself (and your developing
baby); smoking is simply
unacceptable during this time in
your life.
Researches have done
plenty of studies on this subject
and the news is not at all good for pregnant smokers.
The risks associated with smoking cigarettes are very
well-known to most people. You have a greater chance
of getting cancer, heart disease, hypertension or stroke if
you smoke cigarettes often. However, there are many
more risks that you (and your baby) face because of this
habit.
Since the mother and unborn child are connected
via the placenta and umbilical cord, everything the
mother consumes reaches the baby very quickly. This
includes all the toxic substances contained in cigarette
smoke that enter the blood stream via the lungs.
They various problems associated with smoking
cigarettes during pregnancy include:
- Difficult pregnancy: There are higher chances that you
will experience abnormal implantation and vaginal
bleeding if you are a smoker. You are also more likely to
go into premature labor or even suffer a miscarriage if
you smoke regularly.
- Low birth weight baby: On average, your baby might be
200 grams lighter than a baby of a mother who does not
smoke during pregnancy. Babies who are very light at
birth tend to have more disabilities and illnesses and
their mortality rate is also higher than that of babies with
a normal weight.
- Behavioral problems: Children born to women who
smoked during pregnancy tend to be very hyperactive
and irritable. More children of smokers are on medication
for attention deficit disorder than kids of non-smokers.
Sadly, unborn babies are affected by second-hand
smoke as well, albeit to a letter extent.
However, you will
be happy to know that doctors believe that the worst
effects of smoking occur only if a woman continues with
the habit throughout her pregnancy.
A woman who quits smoking as soon as she knows she is pregnant, or
even when she is trying to have a baby, is able to avoid most of these
negative effects.
Therefore, it is best if you stop
smoking entirely, or at least drastically reduce the
number of cigarettes you smoke every day, in order to
ensure that you have a safe pregnancy and a healthy
baby. You should also stay away from people when they
smoke cigarettes.
Lindsay is an anti-smoking advocate and expert. She has
helped hundreds of people quit smoking and improve
their lifestyle. "One of the best methods I use to help
people quit smoking is by using the latest and most
advanced smoking alternative devices. It works 90
percent of the time," says Lindsay during an interview.