Smoking and Pregnancy

Why Should I Quit Before Getting Pregnant?
If you're a young woman planning on marrying soon and wish to raise a family, you want to quit smoking and begin preparing the healthiest body you can now for creating your baby. The best head start you can give him or her (or them!) is glorious health.

What are the Chief Concerns of Smoking while Preganant?
Q: Will my baby be unhealthy if I smoke during pregnancy?
A: Not necessarily, but the risk of having an unhealthy baby is greatly increased if you continue smoking. Breathing problems, premature birth and even infant death increase significantly in pregnant women who smoke.

Q: I've heard smoking keeps babies small, which are easier to deliver. Isn't that true?
A: No. Small babies can be just as troublesome to deliver as large babies. Underweight babies run the chance of being sickly, of requiring more care and of staying in the hospital longer. Some even die at birth. Others die before they're a year old.

Q: I've heard it said, "If a mother smokes, a baby smokes." Is there any truth to that?
A: Absolutely. What's worse, the poisons you inhale through smoke like cyanide, carbon monoxide and aresenic all threaten the baby by entering through the placenta. The baby's growth can be stunted and its health impaired.

Q: Will I put on extra weight if I quit smoking while I'm pregnant?
A. Yes, but you need extra weight. It's what feeds your baby. Don't worry about the extra weight, you'll lose most of it when your baby is born. Instead, worry about what you eat. Avoid junk foods especially. Get plenty of exercise and rest.

Q: I want a baby but I don't want to look like a blob!
A: Nature must be allowed to do its thing, and if that includes looking like a "blob," when you're pregnant it's just part of the price you pay for the gift of a child. Just remember you aren't being asked to do anything any other pregnant woman isn't also being asked to do.

If you find you're overly concerned about your looks, perhaps you need to reconisder whether or not you're really ready to have a child. In any case, you couldn't look any less attractive than your yellowed teeth and wrinkled skin will lead if you continue to smoke. You'll say goodbye to that skunky breath as well!

Q: If I keep smoking while I'm pregnant, what's a safe number of cigarettes I can cut down to?
A: There is no such thing as a safe number of cigarettes. It only takes one to impregnate you with irreversible disease. If you're still willing to gamble on a "safe number of cigarettes," perhaps you aren't ready to take on the responsibilities of being a mother.

If your full attention is not on your pregnancy and everything that implies, you should seriously consider delaying pregnancy. Whether you find yourself expectedly or unexpectedly pregnant, it's time to the right and responsible thing. Quit smoking!

Q: Is second-hand smoke a threat to my unborn baby?
A: Recent studies indicate that second-hand smoke increases risks to unborn babies, including the chance of being underweight and other health problems. If smokers refuse to abstain around you, excuse yourself and leave.

Q: I have heard stress and tension increase if you quit smoking during pregnancy. Is that true?
A: The evidence now is that smoking actually causes and increases tension and stress. When you smoke, the nicotine high masks your ordinary, everyday tension and stress. You think these have been relieved, but they haven't gone anywhere. The proof of that is that as soon as the effects of the nicotine wear off, you will feel tension and stress again.

This is not newtension and stress. It's the very same tension and stress that were there before you lit the cigarette that temporarily masked them.

Q: Can a mother's breast milk be contaminated by nicotine?
A: Yes. Furthermore, nicotine is a poison, so smoking and breast feeding poison your baby.

Q: What other dangers are there to my baby if I continue smoking?
A: Mothers who smoke during pregnancy give birth to a much larger number of children with long-term health problems, such as colds and coughs. These children miss more school and do more poorly. They are often slow learners.

If you have other children who are fast learners and do well in school even though you smoked during your pregnancy with them, this does not necessarily mean they escaped the consequences of your smoking; it's possible they might have been even faster learners and scored even higher.

Many children of mothers who smoke during pregnancy are shorter and smaller. Sadly, many go on to emulate their parents by smoking when they are older.

Q: Is it OK to smoke between babies?
A: It's never OK to smoke. Keep remembering that your child's body is formed inside you and reflects your health. Why would you create an unhealthy inside as a place to form that child?

Q: What other problems does smoke cause babies?
A: Smoking while pregnant has been linked to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), hyperactivity, aggressive behavior disorders, lower math and reading scores, lower birth rate, miscarriage and pre-term labor. Because babies have smaller airway, smoking severely challenges their breathing. Smoking can cause them serious lung problems, up to and including pneumonia.

What You Can DO:

• Quit smoking, even if you aren't planning on having children.
  
• Fill your boredom with exercise, projects. Get a hobby. Join a bicycle riding club.
  
• Stop looking at smokers around you and assuming because they "look OK" you're probably OK too.
  
• More importantly than anything, learn HOW addiction works. If you will do this, you will never start again after you quit. There is an excellent book on this, available at www.thesmokestop.com

We are grateful to the American Lung Association (1-800-586-4872) upon whose information the above Q&A has been based. The Lung Association is offering a new way to stop smoking through its Freedom From Smoking® online smoking cessation clinic.

The program is based on the Lung Association's Freedom From Smoking® program, which has already helped thousands of smokers quit smoking for good. The Freedom From Smoking® online smoking cessation clinic can be accessed day or night, seven days a week, on almost anytime you call.

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