Smoking And Pregnancy

Save your baby! -- Facts on smoking and pregnancy

It is a widely known and accepted fact that smoking and pregnancy should not be two characteristics of one woman. For years, there have been medical study to show the detrimental effects smoking has on pregnant women. Here are just some of the facts on smoking and pregnancy:

* Smoking during pregnancy causes 20% to 30% low birth weight babies as well as about 10% of infant deaths.

* The odds of developing asthma as twice as high for children whose mothers smoke.

* Breast milk contains what's in the mother's body. If the mother smokes, then the baby ingests the nicotine in the mother's milk.

* A study of 2nd and 5th grade students revealed that children of women who smoked during pregnancy scored lower on proficiency tests.

* Studies show that nicotine damages the quality of brain cells.

Although there are cases of smoking during pregnancy where the mother has a healthy child, it is rare. All research regarding smoking and pregnancy has shown that smoking during pregnancy has nothing but harmful effects on the baby. These effects may show up at birth and some may stay dormant until latter years. However, on average, children of smoking mothers have had weaker bodies, shorter attention spans, and lower test scores. None of these effects are desirable and goes to show that smoking and pregnancy really should not be in the same sentence.

So be sure to check out our pages about How To Quit Smoking, Stop Smoking Aids, Passive Smoking, and the Harmful Effects Of Smoking elsewhere on this site.