©Pregnancy bliss 2008
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There is no doubt that smoking is bad for pregnancy. Among the likely adverse effects
of this habit are: Spontaneous miscarriage, low birth-
Why smoking in pregnancy is harmful
When you smoke, you are sending nicotine, carbon monoxide and cyanide into your circulation. These act to reduce oxygen supply to the growing baby. The higher the amount of nicotine in the cigarette brand you smoke and the higher the number of cigarettes smoked daily, the higher the risk of adverse effects.
No rate of smoking can be considered completely safe.
Bleeding complication in pregnancy caused by smoking
This is a direct effect of the reduced oxygenation of the afterbirth (placenta). The two major causes of bleeding in pregnancy which are placental abruption and placenta previa are both more common among smokers. Both these complications can lead to fetal loss, with placental abruption being a lot more risky.
Low birth-weight and cigarette smoking
Low birth weight is a direct result of the fetus being subjected to chronic oxygen starvation. A low weight is not innocuous. It increases the baby’s risk of death or illness at birth. A small fetus copes less well with the stresses and strains of labor and this increases the risk of emergency cesarean section.
Baby loss among mothers who smoke
Death of the baby at or just before birth is twice as high among mothers who smoke in pregnancy compared to those who do not.
These babies are lost as a result of an increase in complications such as growth restriction, severe hemorrhage in pregnancy, preterm delivery and preterm rupture of membranes, all of which could be a direct consequence of smoking.
Spontaneous miscarriage and smoking
Rates of spontaneous miscarriage are over 25% higher among smokers and, in England and Wales alone, over 4000 miscarriages are directly blamed on maternal smoking every year.
It is thought that in the older mother (over 35 years of age), smoking may increase the risk of chromosomal anomalies, which in turn increases the risk of miscarriage further still.
Risks related to smoking after delivery
Cot death (sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS) has been partly blamed on parental
smoking. The risk of this happening to the baby of a mother who smokes is calculated
to be increased two to five times compared to those in non-
Long-term effects of parental smoking for children
Children born to smokers on average suffer more from poor physical and intellectual growth. In fact, the latter is quite marked and study after study has shown that educational attainment is significantly lower for those children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy and after birth. On the physical front, though less marked, they achieve lower weight and height.