The Terrible Effects of Smoking During Pregnancy

This article will go over some of the many dangers to your unborn child if you are smoking during pregnancy. If there was ever a right time to quit smoking, it is when you find out you are pregnant. Whatever distress it causes you to quit, your baby's health is worth it.

There will be many positive health benefits for you and you will feel so much better. Because pregnancy is a stressful time you have to be extra committed to what you are doing. Here are just a few of the many hidden dangers for your child when you're smoking during pregnancy.

Smoking during pregnancy can lead to your child's premature death. Young children exposed to second hand smoke are more likely to die from SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome. A child under the age of one who dies for no apparent cause is the victim of SIDS. So that is obviously an extremely serious risk that a smoking pregnant mother is taking with her child. Education and awareness could go a long way to helping the situation and if more women were made aware of the risks, they might be more willing to quit. Your child can have seriously compromised lung function if you smoke during pregnancy. Your child will be at a higher risk for lung related issues including asthma and a greater tendency for pneumonia. It is also more common for these children to develop issues such as bronchitis. These problems also involve your child's immune system. So in addition to what was just mentioned, it is known that there is a general tendency toward susceptibility toward infections.

Smoking during pregnancy can have a host of possibilities, all of them negative. The main culprit is the cigarette smoking, but that can be further broken down into more specific causes.

For example, nicotine is known to constrict blood vessels when it is present in the blood. Of course if it has that affect on you, it will do the same to your baby. Constricted blood vessels reduce blood flow and less oxygen is available. But the decreased blood oxygen serves to compromise the baby's brain as well as cardiovascular system.

A woman who smokes during pregnancy should find this very troubling.

At this time, we don't completely understand the highly negative effects smoking during pregnancy can have on the baby. This article has focused mainly on the effects on the unborn baby but these same effects don't go away after birth. The consequences associated with smoking while pregnant can affect the child well into adulthood. The child can be left dealing with the consequences of their mother smoking while pregnant for their entire life. This is why it is extremely important to quit smoking for the sake of both the mother and the baby.