Women Need to Quit Smoking to Protect their Children

A woman who smokes during her pregnancy can do damage to her unborn infant; she can cause serious medical issues for the baby. If a woman smokes cigarettes while pregnant she can cause her baby to be born prematurely, smaller than they normally would be, stillborn or have a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome. It is because nicotine passes through to the placenta when a woman smokes cigarettes that cause the lower birth weight and the potential for a premature or a fatal birth. Smoking has been identified as the cause of these problems in nearly thirty percent of problem births and ten percent of the deaths of infants. It is not right to cause harm to your baby because you need a cigarette.

What about if you want to breast feed your infant? Do you realize that this too could cause health problems? The nicotine passes right through the breast milk and causes the baby to become addicted to the nicotine. But even that is not the full extent of the problems that children of smoking mothers can have. There is double the chance of a child winding up asthmatic if their mother is a smoker. As well, they are more likely to develop chronic conditions like bronchitis or constant colds.

Some women think if they lessen the number of cigarettes they smoke around their children this will show immediate benefits. But, they are wrong. Whether pregnant or caring for a child a woman’s smoking directly affects their children. A woman who smokes less often inhales more, trying to bring in the amount of nicotine they need with fewer cigarettes. Low tar cigarettes also have no advantage as the less nicotine often causes a reaction that makes the desire stronger.

This leaves only one answer for a woman who is a smoker and either plans to have a baby or learns she is pregnant. She must quite smoking cigarettes quickly. If she is able to quit no later than in the first trimester of her pregnancy then the bad side effects that could otherwise occur will not likely happen to the baby. Quitting quickly will give you the opportunity to give your infant the best chance at good health. If you begin smoking again later the second hand smoke that will be in your home or your car, even walking with your children in the park, can give your child medical conditions that they do not deserve. They have not made the choice to smoke; you have. So if you do not want to quit for you, quit for your children.

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