What are the dangers of smoking before pregnancy?

Alcohol during pregnancy: safe or not?

A glass of wine or a puff on a cigarette is an integral part of the social life of most women. But when you're pregnant, everything you put into your body reaches your baby. Cigarette smoke and alcohol can harm your baby's health, so it's important that you change your habits.

Of course, ideally, you need to give up bad habits even before you start trying to get pregnant. The baby's brain and other organs begin to develop in the earliest stages of pregnancy, when the woman does not yet know that she is carrying a child. But even if you are already pregnant, you have the opportunity to significantly reduce the risk of developing pathologies in your child if you give up bad habits now.

Why you can’t suddenly quit smoking during pregnancy

You shouldn't give up smoking suddenly, it's better to do it gradually. Otherwise, a pregnant woman may experience withdrawal symptoms, which will affect the development of the child and his health after birth. If you suddenly give up cigarettes, the body cannot adapt quickly, and a stressful state ensues. Internal organs that do not suddenly receive the usual dose of nicotine cease to function normally. The heart, lungs, liver and digestive tract are especially affected. The body’s production of the required amount of dopamine is disrupted, resulting in a depressive state and a sharp change in behavior.

Withdrawal syndrome may be accompanied by the following symptoms:

• excessive sweating;
• irritability;
• hand tremors;
• absentmindedness;
• chills;
• loss of appetite;
• swelling of the face;
• cardiopalmus;
• constipation or diarrhea;
• blood pressure surges;
• severe cough with sputum.

A pregnant woman who abruptly quits smoking has a weakened immune system, and she and her unborn child are exposed to various diseases. Against the backdrop of a stressful state of the body, frequent bronchitis, acute respiratory infections, acute respiratory viral infections occur, existing chronic diseases worsen, and insomnia torments. A pregnant woman should not allow withdrawal symptoms to develop, so as not to harm the baby and herself, so it is not recommended to give up cigarettes right away.

Abruptly quitting smoking can even cause miscarriage or death of the fetus in the womb.

Drinks for two

When you lift the glass to your lips, make sure it is filled with grape juice and not wine. Why? When you drink alcoholic beverages, the alcohol passes through the placenta to the growing fetus. Because a developing child's body breaks down alcohol much more slowly than an adult's body, the fetus's blood alcohol level may rise much more than its mother's and will remain elevated for longer. Therefore, even a sip of alcohol, which seems absolutely harmless to you, can negatively affect the child. The damage can be severe, ranging from mental retardation to the development of heart defects.

According to the American National Academy of Sciences, 20% of women who drink alcohol continue to drink during pregnancy. One in 29 women who know they are pregnant report that they continue to drink alcohol regularly.

Consequences of smoking during pregnancy

The most common phenomena due to smoking mothers are abnormalities and pathologies of organs in the baby.

The following may happen:

• development of heart disease;
• poor vision and squint;
• abnormalities in parts of the nasopharynx: a child is born with a cleft palate or cleft lip;
• hernia in the groin area, and other complications.

It has also been proven that nicotine entering the womb leads to mental disorder in the unborn child. Nicotine in a pregnant woman’s body interferes with blood circulation, and because of this, the baby’s brain does not receive a full blood flow. This causes abnormalities: Down's disease, psychological disorders, problems with the nervous system and other mental disabilities. In addition, by smoking, the mother can cause the child to become addicted to smoking, because his body is already accustomed to receiving nicotine, and he can start smoking at an early age.

Disappointing statistics

To see even more clearly the dangers of smoking tobacco during pregnancy, it is important to familiarize yourself with the statistics:

1. Children of smoking mothers have every chance of suffering from obesity and diabetes by the age of 16.
2. In boys, due to nicotine, the testicles may not fully develop, and the concentration of sperm in the semen will decrease by about 20%.
3. A child will have a nicotine addiction from early childhood.
4. If a pregnant woman who smokes smokes at least one pack of cigarettes per day, or even more, then she has a chance that the baby will be stillborn or have a miscarriage, especially if twins are developing in the womb. The risk of losing a child increases one and a half times more than for healthy mothers, and if the mother also drinks, then the probability doubles.

This is just a small part of the statistics that shows the consequences of smoking during pregnancy.

Now it becomes obvious that pregnancy and smoking tobacco are completely incompatible!

If a woman is planning a family and wants to become a mother, then she should first give up all her bad habits. Only in this case will the baby be able to be born healthy and healthy, and the period of gestation will pass without any complications.

What if it's just a sip or two?

Resist the urge to take a small sip, even for toast, because research has shown that sometimes even in very small doses, alcohol can cause permanent harm to your baby. A recent study from Wayne State University in Detroit found that women who drank just one drink per week during pregnancy were three times more likely than those who drank no alcohol to have children diagnosed with behavioral problems. , such as aggression and distracted attention. Children whose mothers drank more often, but in moderation - about a glass of wine a day - sometimes had more serious mental problems. A number of studies have found that children whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy, in addition to significant behavioral problems, also have an increased risk of learning problems and a risk of lower IQ.

But the list of potential health and development problems for such children does not end there. Pregnant women who frequently drink alcohol may have a baby with alcohol intoxication syndrome, which is one of the most common causes of mental retardation, central nervous system problems, abnormal facial features and cardiovascular diseases. Even if such a child has not been diagnosed with mental retardation, he may still have significant problems with learning, memory, attention, speech and hearing, as well as serious behavior problems.

Studies have also shown that women who drank alcohol about three times a week in the first trimester of pregnancy were twice as likely to have miscarriages.

Smoking before pregnancy: consequences

Smoking before pregnancy does not lead to such dire consequences as during pregnancy, but it can also negatively affect the health of the unborn child. It is for this reason that doctors strongly recommend approaching family planning responsibly and wisely.

It is believed that the blood is freed from toxins obtained from tobacco in about six months. It will take several more months to restore reproductive function. In a woman whose body is poisoned by cigarette poisons, pregnancy may not occur or may end in spontaneous termination at an early stage.

During the planning period, try to strengthen your body and help it cleanse itself of harmful substances:

• Take vitamins recommended by your doctor.
• Eat healthy foods enriched with B vitamins and folic acid.
• Walk in the fresh air, ideally in forested areas.
• Maintain a comfortable temperature and humidity in the apartment to free the lungs from phlegm.
• Drink infusions and herbs that cleanse the blood of toxins.
• Stay hydrated and drink at least 2 liters of clean drinking water per day.
• Avoid coffee and alcohol.
• Minimize stressors to avoid being tempted to smoke again.

It is not advisable to use nicotine patches and chewing gum, but it is permissible no later than 3-4 months before the planned conception.

Is caffeine harmful?

Wondering if drinking coffee can harm your baby? Experts differ on this issue. While some studies have shown that drinking caffeinated drinks increases the risk of miscarriage, other studies have shown that there is little or no risk of miscarriage from drinking caffeine if you drink no more than a cup of coffee per day.

While there is no definitive data on the dangers of consuming caffeine, the wisest decision would be to remove coffee drinks from your diet, or reduce their consumption to 300 ml per day. If you drink tea, be aware that some teas may also contain caffeine. Also keep in mind that other products may contain caffeine, such as cola or chocolate, so read labels carefully.

Caffeine content in products

How does smoking affect the fetus?

You know that smoking is harmful to your health and also negatively affects the development of your growing baby. In fact, smoking doubles the risk of having an underweight baby. A child who is underweight has an increased chance of developing health problems, and they die more often than children of normal weight. The good news is that even if you stop smoking mid-pregnancy, the risk of having an underweight baby will disappear. Even giving up this bad habit at a later stage will contribute to your child's weight gain.

The study, which was conducted at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, found that women who quit smoking at 32 weeks of pregnancy reduced their risk of having an underweight baby to the same level as non-smoking women.

Smokers also face an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy (when the fetus implants outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tube) and placental complications. Placenta previa occurs twice as often in women who smoke than in women who do not smoke. Smokers also have an increased risk of amniotic fluid leakage before labor begins. If membrane rupture occurs before week 37, the baby may be born premature.

In addition, babies of women who smoke may face problems after birth. Experts say that children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy experience withdrawal symptoms (such as anxiety, sadness or difficulty calming down), as do children of mothers who used drugs. Smoking can also increase the risk of developing various birth defects, including cleft lips, cleft palate and club feet. But most frighteningly, scientists believe that children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome.

Smoking during pregnancy: truth and myths

• 17 August 2020 11:08

Myth No. 1 Pregnant women cannot quit smoking. This is a great stress for the body, dangerous for the child, and can cause miscarriage or premature birth. Truth: The process of quitting smoking may indeed be stressful and uncomfortable, but it is still better than continuing to smoke. It is cigarettes that can provoke placental abruption and bleeding in the expectant mother. At this time, the child suffers from acute oxygen starvation, which leads to pathology in the development of his internal organs, including the brain.

Myth No. 2 Higher quality cigarettes will not harm a child Truth: High-quality cigarettes cause exactly the same harm as their cheap counterparts. Expensive cigarettes differ only in that they make the smoke more palatable due to the presence of flavorings in their composition.

Myth No. 3 During pregnancy, you can smoke electronic cigarettes, light cigarettes, hookah, or reduce the number of cigarettes per day. Truth: A lite cigarette, e-cigarette cartridge, or hookah still contains nicotine. Once in the blood, it harms mother and child. Replacing regular cigarettes with lighter options or reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day is dangerous to health and is self-deception. In addition, when smoking electronic cigarettes without nicotine additives, irreparable harm is caused by the combustion products of glycerol, the main substance of the smoking liquid.

Myth No. 4 Smoking is not dangerous in the first trimester of pregnancy. Truth: From the moment the zygote is implanted into the endometrium of the uterus, the fetus and the mother’s body are a single whole. Everything that happens to the expectant mother affects her baby. It is during the first months of fetal development that smoking is especially dangerous, since during this period the formation of the most important organs of a small person takes place. The toxic effects of cigarettes can result in congenital deformities.

Myth No. 5 A friend smoked during pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy child, which means nothing will happen to me. If someone you know is lucky, it doesn't mean you will be lucky. Perhaps the consequences will be minimal, or perhaps the child will be born, for example, with a cleft palate. One should not naively believe that an outwardly healthy baby born to a mother who smokes like a steam locomotive will grow up to be a healthy person. Often, by the age of 3-4 years, such children have problems with the heart, kidneys, and lymphatic system. According to statistics, babies affected by maternal smoking during the perinatal period are more likely to suffer from lung disease, have weak immunity, and become hyperactive.

One of the consequences of cigarette addiction for a newborn is low birth weight. The statistics are cold-blooded: babies with underweight often die in the first hours of life.

As adults, children of smokers suffer from asthma, liver diseases, urinary system diseases, tumors of various locations, hypertension, heart defects, metabolic pathologies leading to obesity, and type 2 diabetes.

If a mother smokes, her baby suffers more from colic than the baby of a non-smoking parent. The consequences of smoking during pregnancy affect the child for at least another 6 years. WHO studies have shown that such children begin to read later, lag behind in mental and physical development compared to their peers, and pass intellectual and psychological tests worse.

Do you still want to check whether you are as lucky as your friend or not?

Myth No. 6 Despite the fact that a pregnant woman smokes, she feels well, which means everything is fine. Truth: Feeling great is not a guarantee of a normal pregnancy. If the expectant mother smokes and feels well, this does not mean the child is safe. There may be no external signs of a child’s developmental disorder at all.

Why smoking is dangerous for parents and children:

1. Parents who smoke have reduced reproductive abilities. In other words, conception may become problematic. In men, sperm become less mobile and change shape, which prevents them from penetrating the egg. In women, the movement of the egg through the fallopian tubes becomes more difficult, and the chances of implantation of the embryo are reduced. That is why when planning pregnancy, couples should give up bad habits. At the same time, smoking categorically cannot be considered as a method of contraception! 2. Difficulties arise with the birth of a boy. The Y chromosome determines the male gender of the unborn child. By its structure, it is more sensitive to negative factors affecting the occurrence of pregnancy than the “female” X chromosome. According to research, it has been established that smoking parents give birth to boys two times less often than girls. The main reason is intrauterine death of a fetus with a Y chromosome. 3. A child born to smoking parents is already doomed to problems in the reproductive system. When the expectant mother smokes, the baby experiences oxygen starvation of the organs, which has an extremely negative effect on their formation and development. A girl’s set of eggs is formed during her prenatal development and is not renewed throughout her life. Smoking harms not only a woman’s reproductive system, but also her daughter’s reproductive system. The sons of smoking parents have insufficiently developed testicles, the size of which is usually smaller than those of the sons of non-smoking mothers. They also have a lower sperm count (by 20%) than their peers. 4. A woman who smokes has a child born addicted to nicotine. Often such children become smokers at a young age. The risk of becoming a drug addict and shocking parents with attacks of inappropriate behavior is 5 times higher for them. 5. Sometimes the placenta is directly affected by smoking, which leads to miscarriage or intrauterine death of the fetus. In smokers, miscarriages for one reason or another and at different stages of pregnancy occur on average twice as often. This is due to the fact that the placenta and fetus are in a state of constant lack of oxygen (hypoxia). 6. Smoking mothers are more likely to give birth to premature babies, and those who were born on time often have noticeably reduced weight (hypotrophy). If the fetus does not receive enough nutrients and oxygen, it begins to lag behind in development. And if on average children are born with a body weight of about 3 kg and a body length of about 50 cm, for children of smokers these figures will be 20-30 percent lower. 7. Children of smokers are often born with pathologies and developmental defects. In 2003, it became known that there was a connection between smoking in early pregnancy and the risk of having a child with facial defects (palate defects: cleft lip, cleft palate). Smoking is also associated with limb defects, such as cauda equina and underdeveloped joints. Children with Down syndrome, other things being equal, are more often born to women who smoke. 8. Very often, children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy have impaired lung function at birth. In the body of a child affected by maternal smoking, a lack of surfactant is often diagnosed - a substance that prevents the walls of the alveoli from sticking together. Infant death is more common in children of smoking mothers. Modern medicine cannot reliably explain the causes of the development of this syndrome, but the risk factors are defined quite clearly. The most dangerous of them is smoking during pregnancy. Numerous studies have shown that babies of smoking mothers most often die in the first months of life. It is not so important whether the expectant mothers were active or passive smokers. 10. Children of women who smoke 15–20 cigarettes a day (even if they abstained from smoking during pregnancy) get sick more often. This is due to all of the above reasons.

It is important!

All of the above points together and each of them separately are a good reason to quit smoking. If you are pregnant, stop smoking right now! You should not believe myths and outright false information. Smoking absolutely always forces the expectant mother and child to receive a lot of toxic substances that can ruin the life of an unborn person, leaving him no chance for a happy and healthy future.

Every time you want to “smoke”, imagine how someone offers your child a cigarette, or gives it instead of a pacifier to a newborn defenseless baby. The spectacle is not for the faint of heart, is it? And then look in the mirror - that “someone” is you... By inhaling cigarette smoke, you force your child to inhale it too!

Arkhangelsk Center for Medical PreventionSource: Smoking during pregnancy: truth and myths

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Why can't you smoke after the baby is born?

It is also very important to refrain from this unhealthy habit after your baby is born. Babies who inhale cigarette smoke are more likely than other children to suffer from respiratory problems, asthma and ear infections. Babies of smoking mothers are more likely to be hospitalized with pneumonia than babies of non-smoking mothers. Of course, no one says that you will smoke on your child if you smoke, but the smell of smoke will remain on your hair, hands, on your clothes, and the child will inhale it upon contact with you.

How to give up bad habits

Before you drink another glass of wine or smoke a cigarette, think about your child. Perhaps, now the health of your baby is the strongest motivation for you. Try not to think about cigarettes and drinking, distract yourself from obsessive thoughts, and do something pleasant that requires full concentration. Avoid being in the company of people who smoke, or at least ask them to abstain from their habit in your presence. Challenge yourself: make an agreement with yourself that you will not smoke for at least a week. Probably, after this week, you yourself will begin to dislike the smell of smoke. Think about what is more important to you: a child or some kind of smoking stick - the choice is obvious.

December 1, 2020 Author
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