Dangers Smoking in Pregnant Women

If your health isn't enough to make you quit smoking, then the health of your baby should be. Smoking during pregnancy affects you and your baby's health before, during, and after your baby is born. The nicotine (the addictive substance in cigarettes), carbon monoxide, and numerous other poisons you inhale from a cigarette are carried through your bloodstream and go directly to your baby. Smoking while pregnant will:

Make no mistake about it: smoking is dangerous. This is particularly true for the pregnant woman. Smoking can cause tremendous health problems in a woman, ranging from cancer to heart disease. In addition to the health risks of the mother, smoking while pregnant can also harm your baby.

One of the biggest concerns with smoking during pregnancy is the risk of premature and/or low-birthweight babies. Low birthweight babies tend to have a large number of health problems both immediately after birth and throughout their life that are directly related to their low birthweight. Smoking increases the risk of your baby being born too small by about 30%. The more that you smoke during pregnancy, the greater these risks are. Some studies suggest that if a woman stops smoking before the end of the firs trimester, she can eliminate the increased risk of having a low birthweight baby.

Smoking is also known to cause problems with the placenta. Placenta previa, in which the placenta is low-lying and covers a part or all of the uterine opening, and placental abruption, in which the placenta separates in whole or in part from the uterine wall, are common complications that can be caused by smoking. These placental problems can lead to heavy bleeding during the delivery process that can pose a threat to both the mother and the baby. Placental problems increase the risk of stillbirth due to problems with the placenta.

Some studies show that smoking while pregnant increases the risk of a premature rupture of the membranes. When this happens, a woman will typically go into labor within a few hours. If this happens too soon, before the 37th week of pregnancy, your baby can be born premature.

Some newer studies suggest that newborns of moms who smoke may even experience withdrawal symptoms after birth, much like the baby of a woman who uses illicit drugs.

Some studies suggest a link between prenatal smoking and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), in which babies whose mothers smoked while pregnant were three times as likely to die from SIDS.

If you are pregnant and you smoke, now is the time to quit. No matter how hard it is, quitting smoking will greatly reduce the risks to your baby. There are a variety of smoking cessation methods, and you should find one that will work for you. Contact your doktor if you need more information about the variety of smoking cessation aids available.

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Dangers of Nicotine

Nicotine is an alkaloid found in tobacco. It occurs in the tobacco roots and accumulates in the leaves. It constitutes between 0.6 and 3 percent of the tobacco's weight. In the past, nicotine was used as an insecticide because of its antiherbivore chemical functions. Even today, some insecticides contain nicotine or nicotine analogs.

Nicotine in high doses acts as an effective nerve poison and can have a number of potentially harmful side effects. It is extremely physically addicting, though estimates on the exact degree of addiction range wildly from very low levels to those rivaling that of heroine or cocaine.

Nicotine raises heart rate and blood pressure. The blood sugar level is elevated and the production of insulin is increased because of nicotine. Nausea, sweating and diarrhea may also occur. Inexperienced users might experience tremors, as nicotine stimulates the nervous system. In high doses, nicotine might even cause convulsions.

The dangers of mainstream and secondhand tobacco smoke have been well documented as a cause of cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke, pulmonary disease and birth defects. Only recently, however, has the general public been made aware of the threats posed by third-hand smoke. The term was coined in a study that appeared in the January 2009 edition of the journal “Pediatrics,” in which it was reported that only 65 percent of non-smokers and 43 percent of smokers surveyed agreed with the statement that “Breathing air in a room today where people smoked yesterday can harm the health of infants and children.”

“The burning of tobacco releases nicotine in the form of a vapor that adsorbs strongly onto indoor surfaces, such as walls, floors, carpeting, drapes and furniture. Nicotine can persist on those materials for days, weeks and even months. study shows that when this residual nicotine reacts with ambient nitrous acid it forms carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines or TSNAs,” says Hugo Destaillats, a chemist with the Indoor Environment Department of Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division. “TSNAs are among the most broadly acting and potent carcinogens present in unburned tobacco and tobacco smoke.”

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