Don't Give Your Baby
Cigarettes
When you smoke, it harms your baby. Smoking
causes your baby to get less oxygen. Lack of oxygen can cause your
baby to grow more slowly and gain less weight in the womb. Smoking
during pregnancy has also been linked to miscarriage and pre-term labor. According
to the American Lung Association, even second-hand smoke can be damaging
to your baby's health. The association estimates that smoking during
pregnancy accounts for 20 to 30 percent of low-birthweight babies, up to
14 percent of preterm deliveries and about 10 percent of all infant
deaths. The odds of developing asthma are twice as high among
children whose mothers smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day. But
there are other complications as well. According to the Centers for
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: *
Infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy have 2.3 times the risk of
sudden infant death syndrome than infants of nonsmoking pregnant
mothers. For infants exposed to maternal smoking both during
pregnancy and after birth, the risk of SIDS is three times the risk for
infants not exposed. * Annually an estimated
150,000 to 300,000 cases of lower-respiratory infection in infants and
children are attributable to environmental tobacco smoke. Most of
this exposure in infants and young children is from mothers who smoke. *
Women who smoke during pregnancy are at increased risk of
miscarriages. A pregnant woman who smokes is 1.6 times more likely
than a nonsmoker to have a miscarriage. What
can you do? Quit or cut back as much as you can. It's hard,
but remember, you're doing this for your baby. Infants of women who
quit smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy have weight and body
measurements comparable to infants of nonsmokers. Here
are some resources that can help: *
"Freedom From Smoking," a free online smoking cessation program
from the American Lung Association at www.lungusa.org. *
American Cancer Society Quit Line, 800-227-2345 *
Cancer Information Service, National Cancer Institute at 800-422-6237 *
Great Start program of the American Legacy Foundation. Their quit
line is just for pregnant women, 866-667-8278
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