Smoking During Pregnancy

Smoking During Pregnancy Is Very Bad

Smoking can cause infertility in men and women. Smoking women take 30 percent longer to get pregnant than women who do not smoke, and they also have less success with fertility treatments. Because of the substances in tobacco, the quality of egg cells deteriorates. In men, smoking negatively affects the quality of sperm. Furthermore, smoking leads to impotence in men and narrow blood vessels.

So if you and your partner want to have children: to stop taking the pill also means stop smoking. It is part of the preparation for parenthood, part of being a father and mother.

Risks of Smoking During Pregnancy

Tobacco smoke is not only harmful to the unborn child when the mother smokes, but also if the mother is exposed to the smoke of others. The harmful substances in tobacco smoke enter the body via the lungs into the blood and thus goes through the umbilical cord to the unborn child. This can lead to many complications in childbirth and the child:

• A lower weight of the baby (average 250 grams less). This is twice as common with smoking woman compared with non-smoking women
• Higher risk of respiratory infections in the first year
• Higher risk of SIDS
• Worse teeth
• Reduced lung function, ear infections, asthma and bronchitis
• A clubfoot or cleft lip
• Premature birth
• Death during pregnancy by the detachment of the placenta
• Death during childbirth
• Death from SIDS in the first months after birth
• Releasing the placenta. Most of these cases will lead to death of the child in the womb
• Reduced lung function

Other Risks of Smoking During Pregnancy

• Babies born from smoking mothers compared to babies born from non-smoking mothers are often smaller and have a smaller heads, chests, and shoulder circumferences
• Babies born from smoking mothers have weaker immune systems and are thus susceptible to various diseases
• Smoking reduces the production of breast milk. Moreover, you will pass toxins (e.g. nicotine) to your baby through breast milk
• Finally, there is evidence that smoking during pregnancy leads to cardiovascular problems and kidney problems for the child later in life

There is a different level of sensitivity to the effects of smoking for every woman. Everyone is unique. This means that the effects of smoking are far more dramatic for some women than for others.