Those women that smoke during pregnancy put their baby under increasing risk. There are three things that can happen if someone continues to smoke during pregnancy – an underweight baby, a prematurely delivered baby and worse of all, a stillborn baby. As an expecting mother, none of these are desirable for you, that is for sure. Even if you passively smoke cigarette smoke, it can be harmful for the baby.
Biggest risks of smoking during pregnancy
There are many harmful compounds present in each cigarette. Hence, each time an expecting mother smokes a cigarette, all these compounds pass on to the baby through the umbilical cord. It doesn’t matter if the mother finishes off a whole pack of cigarettes or just one or two, the baby is still seriously harmed.
Of all the carcinogenic chemicals that are present in cigarettes, the two that affect the baby most if the mother continues to smoke during pregnancy are nicotine and carbon dioxide. The nicotine reduces the amount of oxygen that is supplied to your baby through the umbilical cord. The carbon monoxide also gets mixed into the oxygen that the baby inhales and thus, creates a choking atmosphere inside the placenta.
When you smoke during pregnancy, you affect two of the most vital organs of your baby’s body – brain and heart. As per the 2011 research result published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy have 20% to 70% more chance to develop congenital heart disorders.
Electronic cigarettes
Even though no form of smoking is recommended for expecting mothers, if you simply cannot give up smoking, you are still better of smoking electronic cigarettes. An electronic cigarette contains nicotine but not the other so many harmful compounds found in actual cigarettes. Since these cigarettes can be flavored like actual cigarettes, one still has the feeling of smoking an actual cigarette.
Move toward being smoke free
Your endeavor as an expecting mother should be to move toward a smoke free environment. Smoking an e-cig can help you with this. You should not look to smoke electronic cigarettes throughout your pregnancy. You should use these smokeless cigarettes to give up smoking completely. Since it is very difficult to handle the withdrawal symptoms when you give up smoking, an electronic cigarette helps you handle this. And it moves you toward a situation when your body doesn’t crave for nicotine.
Let smoking not destroy your baby’s future before it is even born. Remember that your baby is completely dependent on you for its safety as it is cocooned inside your womb. Your smoke free habit will
ensure that the baby grows inside your body normally and then grows up to become a healthy child.