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QUESTION
I am pregnant and I am a smoker. As I want to have healthy baby, I already reduced my smoking dramatically. But my doctor said I should forget about smoking during whole pregnancy and even during breastfeeding. How smoking can harm my pregnancy?
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ANSWER from experts
I am very sorry you did not trust your doctor because your doctor know very well how smoking can damage women health and how harmful smoking can be for your baby.
Health providers know that unfortunately about 10-20% of pregnant women continue smoking throughout their pregnancies - despite having detailed knowledge of the adverse effects of smoking during pregnancy, it is estimated that only 15-25% pregnant smoking women quit smoking once they become pregnant.
Scientific studies demonstrated that if woman continue smoking during pregnancy, she is putting herself and unborn baby at increased risk for complications. Pregnant smoking women could experience several pregnancy complications such as unexpected bleeding and/or miscarriage, baby hypoxia (lack of oxygen), reduced baby weight and premature birth with low-birth weight baby.
Smoking during pregnancy can also reduce the newborn's lung function.
If you are smoking during breastfeeding, you should know that nicotine is found in breast milk, and therefore enters your baby's body.
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Many studies demonstrated that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of so called "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome", premature birth, stillbirth, placenta previa (the placenta grows too close to the opening of the uterus, a condition that often leads to Cesarean section), placental abruption (the placenta prematurely separates from the uterus wall), premature rupture of uterine membranes and preeclampsia (a condition that results in high blood pressure and excess protein in the urine).
It is important to mention that smoking is dangerous not only during pregnancy but also during baby nursing.
If you have children, your smoke puts them at risk, too. Second-hand smoke has been shown to make children more susceptible to infections, including colds and flu, ear infections and lower respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. It also causes new cases of asthma, as well as making existing cases of asthma worse.
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