Smoking is an addiction that is best avoided. However, every year the number of women smoking in our country increases, and the age of acquaintance with the first cigarette, on the contrary, decreases. But what if the addiction to nicotine manifests itself in the expectant mother? The only sure option in this case is to quit smoking as soon as possible. However, not everyone is ready for this step. To press guilt in this case is not the best option. Smoking pregnant women are adult self-sufficient people who are independently responsible for themselves and their offspring.
The final decision should always remain with the woman in labor. However, this article will help to see the full picture of the interconnections in the chain "expectant mother - smoking - child". The information presented in it will help a pregnant woman to properly prioritize and start a new life without cigarettes.
The effect of cigarettes on the health of the unborn baby
So what do you need to know about this? For many years, scientists from around the world have studied the effects of nicotine on the fetus in the womb. The negative impact of cigarettes on the health of the baby and woman in labor was confirmed. The mother’s body, already weighed down by pregnancy, suffers from nicotine even more. For the fetus, the risk of deviations increases.
Smoking pregnant women doom their unborn child to oxygen starvation. In addition, smoke contributes to vasospasm, which is extremely dangerous for a weak, developing organism. The placenta under the influence of nicotine becomes thinner and takes a round shape. The risk of detachment increases significantly. Hemoglobin in the mother's body due to smoking can significantly reduce its activity. As a result, the transport of oxygen to the uterus and the baby suffers. During this violation arterial spasm occurs. As a result, placental function is inhibited, and the child systematically lacks the necessary oxygen.
Effects
You should familiarize yourself with them first. The Ministry of Health warns: with each puff, the expectant mother increases the risk of irreversible consequences for both herself and the unborn child.
Here are the most dangerous of them:
- The threat of spontaneous miscarriage.
- High probability of perinatal death.
- The birth of a premature baby with low adaptive abilities.
- Too small weight of the child. This can significantly reduce the chances of full development.
- The appearance of physical pathologies in the fetus.
- The development of preeclampsia. It manifests itself in a sharp increase in blood pressure, the appearance of protein in the urine, extensive edema.
- Delayed effects of smoking. Some time after birth, the child may experience social and intellectual disorders.
Smoking harms your health and the health of your unborn children. Even a small number of puffs during pregnancy can threaten the development of unpleasant complications.
Harm to the expectant mother
Can pregnant women smoke? This bad habit is bad for not only the health of the unborn baby. The woman herself can also feel the effects of smoking.
Let's look at them in more detail:
- Smoking pregnant women feel much worse than those who do not have bad habits.
- The first signs of nicotine poisoning of the woman in labor are gestosis and early toxicosis.
- Smoking can significantly aggravate a pregnant woman’s varicose veins.
- Cigarettes during gestation cause dizziness and impair digestion.
- Nicotine worsens the absorption of vitamin C in the body of the expectant mother. Due to the deficiency of this useful substance, a significant decrease in immunity, a decrease in metabolism, problems with the absorption of proteins, and depression are observed.
Some people think that menthol cigarettes are less harmful. It's a delusion. They should not be smoked during pregnancy either.
Delayed Consequences
The Ministry of Health warns: smoking during pregnancy can adversely affect the development of the baby after birth. Since the child was still dominated by secondhand smoke in the womb, the probability of preventing bad habits in the future increases significantly. It has been established that children born to smoking mothers often begin to suffer from this harmful habit and drink alcoholic beverages already in their teens. Infants who, while still in the mother’s womb, have acquired nicotine addiction, are more capricious, suffer from asthma attacks and do not sleep well. In addition, in older adults, they may have difficulty concentrating.
As recent medical studies have shown, carcinogens contained in tobacco smoke contribute to inhibition of the baby's reproductive functions. This means that the child of a smoking woman in the future may face such a problem as infertility. In girls, there is a sharp decrease in the supply of eggs. In the future, boys may face impotence.
If the mother smoked while pregnant, it will harm the baby in any case. The difference will only be which organ or system will suffer the most.
Smoking in the first weeks
What you need to know about this? Very often there are situations when a woman did not know that she was pregnant and smoked. When she is informed that she is expecting a baby, remorse about addiction begins to torment her. In this case, not everything is so scary. Nature took care of the development of a new life in advance. A woman is capable of conception on about the 14th day of the cycle. The first week after conception is considered neutral. The fact is that between the embryo and the woman a strong relationship has not yet been established. At first, a clot of cells develops due to its own forces and reserves. In the second week, the embryo is already immersed in the endometrium. At this time, the woman may already have the first suspicions of pregnancy.
Early smoking
Why is it dangerous? When the fetus begins to actively develop in the womb, smoking can put everything upside down. All processes for laying the organs of the future baby can be distorted. Healthy cells will be replaced by diseased. In rare cases, toxins in tobacco smoke can even change the structure of a child’s bone marrow. In this sad situation, after birth, the baby will need a transplant. From the foregoing, we can conclude that smoking in the early stages of pregnancy is a great danger. Just one puff is enough. The tar and nicotine content of cigarettes is so high that even a small amount can cause great harm. In addition to them, smoke contains a huge range of toxic substances such as formaldehyde, benzapyrene, tar and hydrogen cyanide.
If a woman does not quit smoking during pregnancy, she will doom herself and her baby for a number of consequences.
Here are just a few of them:
- fetal hypoxia;
- impaired blood flow in the placenta;
- increased risk of vaginal bleeding;
- spontaneous miscarriage.
The number of cases when pregnant women smokers give birth to babies with such abnormalities as cleft palate or cleft lip is increasing every year. It is worth noting that these pathologies are very difficult to plastic correction.
The first month
In some cases, large-scale hormonal changes in the first four weeks of pregnancy lead to the fact that the smell of tobacco begins to cause disgust in a woman. However, in most cases, an interesting position has no effect on addiction. The expectant mother calmly continues to smoke. Some switch from regular to menthol cigarettes.
In this case, the risk of miscarriage increases significantly. The fact is that tobacco smoke literally blocks oxygen to the embryo. Without this gas, no creature can survive. In addition, the process of laying the internal organs of the baby is violated without full access to oxygen. In this case, even the passive inhalation of tobacco smoke causes harm.
5-6th month
During this period of time, the child has already developed limbs, which he is trying to control. After a period of activity, the baby calms down for a while. This is necessary to gain strength and relax. A small person at this time can already kick, hiccup and cough. The expectant mother can easily determine that the child is moving. During this period, the crumb body actively builds up brown fat, which is responsible for maintaining a constant body temperature. The formation of sweat glands also occurs.
Modern survey methods provide a complete picture of the effects of tobacco smoke on the fetus. With the penetration of nicotine into the body of a woman, the child begins to grimace and moves away from harmful substances. At this time, nicotine can lead to a violation of the natural order of development of the fetus. Also, smoking can cause premature birth, fetal hypoxia. This is a verdict for the baby. At this age, he still cannot survive on his own.
8th month
What should be expected at this time? If the expectant mother is not able to overcome the bad habit by the 8th month of pregnancy, this can result in serious consequences for both her and the baby. Smoking can cause complications such as uterine bleeding, miscarriages and prenatal conditions. Nicotine also greatly affects the condition of the fetus. Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy often have insufficient brain development and low body weight. Cases of spontaneous death in the first days after birth among such children are quite common.
9th month
The last days of the baby's stay in the womb are considered the most responsible. It was at this time that the child was preparing to be born. Weekly, he gains 250 grams of weight. Gradually, the fetus begins to sink into the pelvic cavity. A woman in this period can already begin to feel the first short-term contractions. Also, breathing becomes easier, not constrained by anything.
How does smoking affect this stage? Tobacco smoke can seriously harm a future person.
Here are just some of the complications that women who smoke in their later pregnancy may experience:
- complete or partial detachment of the placenta;
- uterine bleeding;
- hypertension;
- toxicosis;
- premature birth;
- risk of stillbirth;
- the probability of having a premature baby.
Danger to the child
Even if immediately after birth in children born to smokers and drinkers pregnant women, no pathologies may appear, over time, most likely, health problems will arise.
Most often, babies whose mothers were addicted to bad habits during the period of bearing the fetus suffer:
- from defects in the nervous system;
- mental disorders;
- Down syndrome;
- myocardial disease;
- heterotropy;
- pathologies of the nasopharynx;
- inguinal hernia.
Doctors warn: smoking is harmful to your health. In the case of pregnant women, the negative effect is also applied to the body of the unborn child. Therefore, it is extremely important to abandon addiction at least for the period of bearing the baby. Quitting smoking is never too late. Even if a woman abandons the habit in the later stages, she will do her child a huge service.
Effect of alcohol
Another toxic substance that has a negative effect on the development of the baby in the womb is alcohol. Especially dangerous is its combination with smoking. Numerous medical studies have helped to make definitive conclusions. The combined effects of nicotine and ethanol lead to irreversible changes in the structure of DNA, impaired protein synthesis and severe brain pathologies.
Ethanol in the body of an unborn baby lasts twice as long. Drinking during pregnancy strikes the most vulnerable organs and systems of the baby.
Conclusion
Smoking during pregnancy can be very harmful to your unborn baby. Therefore, it is imperative that a pregnant woman abandons this addiction. And relatives and friends should help her in this. The health and well-being of the unborn baby should be the main motivation.