It is common knowledge that smoking is bad for your health and may lead to various life-threatening conditions.
Many people, however, fail to realize that smoking also has a terrible effect on people around them and the fetus inside them.
According to CDC, “smoking during pregnancy causes additional health problems, including premature birth (being born too early), certain birth defects, and infant death.”
It is also responsible for making it harder for women to get pregnant and more likely to experience a miscarriage.
On top of that, “smoking can cause problems with the placenta—the source of the baby’s food and oxygen during pregnancy. For example, the placenta can separate from the womb too early, causing bleeding, which is dangerous to the mother and baby,” the CDC explains.
According to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment and Monitoring System (PRAMS) from 2011 which included data from 24 states, around 10% of women admitted to smoking during the last trimester of their pregnancy.
Out of women who smoke prior to pregnancy, only 55% of them quit once they got pregnant. Amongst those who quit, 40% started smoking again soon after delivery.
A YouTube video that has been circulating the internet for several years also addresses the issue from another perspective. It explains how ultrasound pictures prove that fetuses of smoking mothers touch their faces more often than those of non-smoking moms.
“New ultrasound pictures show how babies of mothers who smoke during pregnancy touch their mouths and faces much more than babies of non-smoking mothers.
“Foetuses normally touch their mouths and faces much less the older and more developed they are.
“Experts said the scans show how smoking during pregnancy can mean the development of the baby’s central nervous system is delayed.
“Doctors have long urged pregnant women to give up cigarettes because they heighten the risk of premature birth, respiratory problems and even cot death.
“Now researchers believe they can show the effects of smoking on babies in the womb.
“Dr Nadja Reissland, of Durham University, used 4-D ultrasound scan images to record thousands of tiny movements in the womb.
“She monitored 20 mothers attending the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, four of whom smoked an average of 14 cigarettes a day.
“After studying their scans at 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks, she detected that foetuses whose mothers smoked continued to show significantly higher rates of mouth movement and self-touching than those carried by non-smokers,” the video description reads.
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