Smoking pregnant women. The effect of nicotine on the fetus

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Smoking is a bad habit that is best avoided. However, every year the number of women who smoke in our country is increasing, and the age of acquaintance with the first cigarette, on the contrary, is decreasing. But what if the addiction to nicotine manifests itself in the expectant mother? The only sure option in this case is to quit smoking as soon as possible. However, not everyone is ready to take this step. Putting pressure on guilt in this case is not the best option. Pregnant women who smoke are self-sufficient adults who are independently responsible for themselves and their offspring.

The final decision should always remain with the woman in labor. However, this article will help to see the full picture of the relationships in the chain "future mother - smoking - child". The information presented in it will help a pregnant woman to prioritize correctly and start a new life without cigarettes.

The impact of cigarettes on the he alth of the unborn baby

So what do you need to know about this? For many years scientistsfrom all over the world investigated the effect of nicotine on the fetus in the womb. The negative impact of cigarettes on the he alth of the baby and the woman in labor was confirmed. From nicotine, the mother's body, already burdened by pregnancy, suffers even more. The fetus is at increased risk for abnormalities.

Smoking pregnant women doom their unborn child to oxygen starvation. In addition, smoke contributes to vasospasm, which is extremely dangerous for a weak, developing organism. The placenta under the influence of nicotine becomes thinner and acquires a round shape. The risk of detachment increases significantly. Hemoglobin in the mother's body due to smoking can significantly reduce its activity. As a result, the transport of oxygen to the uterus and baby suffers. During this disorder, arterial spasm occurs. As a result, the placental function is inhibited, and the child systematically lacks the necessary oxygen.

Consequences

You should read them first. The Ministry of He alth warns: with every puff, the expectant mother increases the risk of irreversible consequences both for herself and for the unborn child.

Here are the most dangerous ones:

• Threatened spontaneous miscarriage.
• High chance of perinatal death.
• The birth of a premature baby with low adaptability.
• Baby is too small. This can significantly reduce the chances of full development.
• The occurrence of physical pathologies in the fetus.
• Development of preeclampsia. It manifests itself in a sharp increase in arterialpressure, the appearance of protein in the urine, extensive edema.
• Delayed effects of smoking. Some time after birth, the child may experience social and intellectual disorders.

Smoking harms your he alth and the he alth of your unborn children. Even a small number of puffs during pregnancy can lead to the development of unpleasant complications.

Harm for the expectant mother

Can pregnant women smoke? This bad habit has a bad effect not only on the he alth of the unborn baby. The woman herself may also experience the effects of smoking.

Let's look at them in more detail:

• Smoking pregnant women feel much worse than those who do not have bad habits.
• The first signs of nicotine poisoning of the mother's body are preeclampsia and early toxicosis.
• Smoking can significantly aggravate varicose veins in pregnant women.
• Cigarettes cause dizziness and indigestion during pregnancy.
• Nicotine impairs the absorption of vitamin C in the body of the expectant mother. Due to the deficiency of this useful substance, there is a significant decrease in immunity, deterioration of metabolism, problems with the absorption of proteins, and depression.

Some people think that menthol cigarettes are not so harmful. It's a delusion. You should also not smoke them during pregnancy.

Delayed Consequences

Ministry of He alth warns: smoking duringpregnancy can negatively affect the development of the baby after birth. Since the child was still in the womb in the grip of passive smoking, in the future the likelihood of preventing bad habits increases significantly. It has been established that children born to smoking mothers often begin to suffer from this bad habit and consume alcoholic beverages as early as adolescence. Babies who have become addicted to nicotine while still in the womb are more moody, suffer from asthma attacks and sleep poorly. In addition, as adults, they may have difficulty concentrating.

As recent medical studies have shown, carcinogens contained in tobacco smoke contribute to the oppression of the reproductive functions of the baby. This means that the child of a smoking woman in the future may face such a problem as infertility. In girls, there is a sharp decrease in the supply of eggs. Boys may experience impotence in the future.

If a mother smoked while pregnant, it would harm the baby anyway. The only difference will be which organ or system will suffer the most.

Smoking in the first weeks

What do you need to know about this? Very often there are situations when a woman did not know that she was pregnant and smoked. When she is informed that she is expecting a child, she begins to suffer remorse about the addiction. In this case, not everything is so scary. Nature took care of the development of new life in advance. A woman is fertile at about the 14thcycle day. The first week after conception is considered neutral. The fact is that a strong relationship has not yet been established between the embryo and the woman. At first, a clot of cells develops at the expense of its own forces and reserves. In the second week, the embryo is already immersed in the endometrium. At this time, a woman may already have the first suspicions of pregnancy.

Smoking in the early stages

How dangerous is it? When the fetus begins to actively develop in the womb, smoking can turn everything upside down. All processes for laying the organs of the future baby can be distorted. He althy cells are replaced by diseased ones. In rare cases, the toxins in tobacco smoke can even change the structure of a child's bone marrow. In such a sad scenario, after birth, the baby will need a transplant. From the foregoing, we can conclude that smoking in early pregnancy is a great danger. Just one puff is enough. The tar and nicotine content of cigarettes is so high that even a small amount can cause great harm. In addition to them, the smoke contains a huge range of toxic substances, such as formaldehyde, benzapyrene, tar and hydrogen cyanide.

If a woman does not quit smoking during pregnancy, she will doom herself and her child to a number of consequences.

Here are just a few of them:

• fetal hypoxia;
• impaired blood flow in the placenta;
• increased risk of vaginal bleeding;
• spontaneous miscarriage.

Number of cases where pregnant women who smokegive birth to babies with such deviations as the wolf's mouth or cleft lip, is growing every year. It should be noted that these pathologies are very difficult to undergo plastic correction.

First month

In some cases, large-scale hormonal changes in the first four weeks of pregnancy lead to the fact that the smell of tobacco begins to disgust the woman. However, in most cases, an interesting situation does not have any effect on addiction. The future mother calmly continues to smoke. Some are switching from regular to menthol cigarettes.

In this case, the risk of miscarriage increases significantly. The fact is that tobacco smoke literally cuts off oxygen to the embryo. Without this gas, no creature can survive. In addition, the process of laying the baby's internal organs is disrupted without full access to oxygen. In this case, even passive inhalation of tobacco smoke brings harm.

5-6th month

During this period of time, the child has already developed limbs that he tries to control. After a period of activity, the baby calms down for a while. This is necessary to gain strength and rest. A small person at this time can already kick, hiccup and cough. The expectant mother can easily determine that the baby is moving. During this period, the body of the crumbs actively builds up brown fat, which is responsible for maintaining a constant body temperature. Sweat glands are also formed.

Modern survey methods provide a complete picture of the impacttobacco smoke on the fetus. When nicotine enters the body of a woman, the child begins to grimace and moves away from harmful substances. At this time, nicotine can lead to disruption of the natural order of fetal development. Also, smoking can cause premature birth, fetal hypoxia. For a baby, this is a real verdict. At this age, he will not yet be able to survive on his own.

8th month

What should we expect at this time? If the expectant mother is not able to overcome the bad habit even by the 8th month of pregnancy, this can result in serious consequences for both her and the child. Smoking can cause complications such as uterine bleeding, miscarriage, and prenatal conditions. Also, nicotine has a strong effect on the condition of the fetus. Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy often have insufficient brain development and low body weight. Cases of spontaneous death in the first days after birth among these children are quite common.

9th month

The last days of the baby's stay in the womb are considered the most responsible. It is at this time that the child is preparing to be born. Every week he gains 250 grams of mass. Gradually, the fetus begins to descend into the pelvic cavity. A woman during this period may already begin to feel the first short-term contractions. Also, breathing becomes easier, not constrained by anything.

How does smoking affect this stage? Tobacco smoke can cause serious harm to an unborn person.

That's justsome of the complications that women who smoke in late pregnancy may face:

• complete or partial placental abruption;
• uterine bleeding;
• hypertension;
• toxicosis;
• preterm birth;
• risk of stillbirth;
• probability of having a premature baby.

Danger for a child

Even if babies born to smoking and drinking pregnant women may not show any pathology immediately after birth, he alth problems are likely to develop over time.

Most often, babies whose mothers were addicted to bad habits during gestation suffer from:

• from defects of the nervous system;
• mental disorders;
• Down syndrome;
• myocardial diseases;
• heterotropy;
• pathologies of the nasopharynx;
• groin hernia.

Doctors warn that smoking is bad for your he alth. In the case of pregnant women, the negative impact is also applied to the body of the unborn child. Therefore, it is extremely important to abandon the addiction at least for the period of bearing the baby. It's never too late to quit smoking. Even if a woman gives up the habit later in life, she will be doing her baby a huge favor.

Influence of alcohol

Another toxic substance that has a negative impact on the development of a child in the womb is alcohol. Its combination with smoking is especially dangerous. Numerousmedical research has helped to draw unambiguous conclusions. The combined effect of nicotine and ethanol leads to irreversible changes in the DNA structure, disruption of protein synthesis processes and severe brain pathologies.

Ethanol in the body of an unborn child lasts twice as long. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy strikes at the most vulnerable organs and systems of the baby.

Conclusion

Smoking during pregnancy can cause great harm to the he alth of your unborn baby. Therefore, it is extremely important that a pregnant woman give up this addiction. And family and friends should help her in this. The he alth and well-being of the unborn baby should be the main motivation.