Imagine, you take in another deep breath and withdraw a cigarette from your mouth. Theweather is beautiful outside and you are happy. But then almost out of nowhere, the baby in yourtummy kicks the side of your stomach. Maybe it’s screaming for you to stop? Maybe the smokeis suffocating it? Men and women all across the globe are aware of the dangers that comes withsmoking while pregnant. Some dangers are more serious than others. The baby can be plaguedwith diseases linked to smoking while pregnant and the mom can cause herself damage as well.
Mothers who do not quit smoking while pregnant make their baby pay the ultimate price.What even is in that small, slender, white thing we see people pull out of their purse ortheir pockets? Chemicals. I’m not talking just some little chemicals. I’m talking serious, lifethreatening chemicals. Chemicals like tar , carbon monoxide and nicotine are all found incigarettes (Waxler). How many total? In one cigarette puff of smoke alone there were 2,500different chemicals (Waxler). That’s a lot of chemicals to be tossing into our bodies. And whenyou’re pregnant? Not only is the mom affected, but the baby is by the smoking.In the first place, the statistics of how many mothers smoke during pregnancy isextremely STARTLING.
Out of 38,252 mothers that were asked if they smoked duringpregnancy 9,500 admitted to smoking while pregnant (Ming). This was just one test alone,imagine if the whole world was asked the question, “Have you or did you, smoke during your a pregnancy?” and everyone answered honestly. The fact is that women aren’t willing to give upsmoking to ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy for their baby? In the article “ReproductiveHealth” put out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 10% of women reportedhaving smoked in the last 3 months of pregnancy, and another 55% quit three months prior topregnancy, where 40% quit smoking before pregnancy but began smoking again within sixmonths after delivery (“Reproductive Health”).
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The statistics are eye opening to those of us whoagree that smoking while pregnant is bad. But this can be stopped.Moving onto rather the more sensitive part of this problem is the effects smoking whilepregnant can have on the unborn fetus. The March of Dimes released an article listing manydifferent defects babies may acquire when their mothers are pregnant and smoking, like: pretermlabor, ectopic pregnancy, placental abruption/placenta previa, cleft palate, low birthweight andsudden infant death syndrome (“Smoking during pregnancy”). You may be wondering, “Whateven is ectopic pregnancy?”
Well, ectopic pregnancy is when the egg embeddes on the outside ofthe uterus or in the fallopian tubes whereas within a normal pregnancy the egg embeds in theuterus, and all of these ectopic pregnancies have to be induced and removed due to the fact thethe egg will not survive (Waxler). In the article published by Daily Mail Online they mention,“A study has revealed this is because female smokers have higher levels of a protein-PROKR1 – in their fallopian tubes. This is thought to hinder the transfer of the egg to theuterus by preventing the muscles in the walls of the fallopian tubes from contracting.The team at the University of Edinburgh found that a chemical in cigarette smoke calledcotinine is behind the harmful levels of PROKR1.” Basically, cigarettes are packed with PROKR1 which makes the fallopian tubes coat with thehigher levels of proteins and makes the non contractible so now the egg doesn’t travel andembeds in the fallopian tubes rather than the uterus.
Why would anyone want to risk their babieslife just to smoke? Nothing good comes out of an ectopic pregnancy, and nothing good comesout of hurting your baby for the sake of a cigarette.Expanding off of the ectopic pregnancy is also a huge problem called placenta previa.This is where the placenta is connected too low in the uterus, almost down to the cervix(Waxler). Obviously, this is not what we want for a pregnancy but this means antepartumhaemorrhage, also known as vaginal bleeding. Not only the babies suffer the consequences ofsmoking while being pregnant, the mothers do as well. Future moms narrow their chance ofbecoming pregnant by smoking (“Reproductive Health”).
That alone is scary. Think about it, youhave always dreamed of being a mom but all that smoking is making it harder and harder andharder for your body to be able to provide a safe and healthy growing environment for a baby.Focusing back on the brutal effects smoking has on babies, there was a study done wherethere was a group of preschoolers from moms who did not smoke while pregnant and there wasanother group of preschoolers whose moms did smoke while pregnant. The study was directlylooking at links between smoking and vision problems in children. The study found thatstrabismus (both esotropia and exotropia), refractive errors, and retinal pathology were present inthe preschoolers whose mother smoked during their pregnancy (Fernandes). Strabismusesotropia is when both or just one eye turn inward, this is also known as being “cross eyed” andStrabismus exotropia one or both of the eyes turn outward essentially the opposite of cross eyed.
During this study the researchers also found that there tended to be a weak area in the optic muscle that was later linked to smoking (Fernandes). Don’t risk your little one’s vision for acigarette that will only relax you for a little while. Children are years and years Cigarettes areseconds and seconds.Considering that direct links to smoking affect babies, what about non direct? Likesecondhand and thirdhand smoke? Secondhand smoke may or may not be familiar to you but it iswhen you breath in the smoke of someone else’s cigarette, and it is linked to: low birth weight,pneumonia, ear infections, asthma, bronchitis, and other lung issues (“Smoking duringpregnancy.”).
Which means going into a bar to pick up pizza for family dinner and being aroundother people smoking is considered secondhand smoking. But what even is thirdhand smoke?Never heard of it? Well, in the article “Smoking during pregnancy” thirdhand smoke is definedas the smell left from smoking, meaning your clothing, hair, couch, curtains, carpet. It’sdangerous and no one thinks of it. Third Hand “smoking” alone has been linked to: asthma,breathing problems, learning problems and cancer (“Smoking during pregnancy”). Like theMarch of Dimes article “Smoking during pregnancy” says, “The less you smoke, the better foryour baby.”
So let’s stop letting this happen, and fight for the unborn child’s health. Everyonedeserves a fighting chance in life.Another defect that babies tend to receive when their mother smokes while pregnant is alow birth weight. This is not a blessing. It means that the baby’s body doesn’t have much muscleor fat to it. Unfortunately, some very serious defects are linked to this low birthweight. Cerebralpalsy and mental retardation were linked to babies that were exposed to smoking while in thewomb (Waxler). Mothers who do not quit smoking while pregnant run the risk of their babieshaving these diseases. No mom wants that for their baby, don’t risk it. How can you quit? Is it easy? Will it take time? When should you quit? Quitting smokingwill not be easy nor will it be quick. You should list all of the reasons as to why you should quit(“Smoking during pregnancy”). For some there will be more reasons, but for mothers wanting tobecome pregnant something should standout.
Anything pertaining towards the baby on that listof reasons why you should quit should be the most important. If you happen to be pregnantalready and decide to quit this can help the baby get more oxygen (“Reproductive Health”). Andnot only will the baby’s quality of life improve, but the expecting mother’s will too. Whenquitting smoking that frees up the money you used to spend on cigarettes (“ReproductiveHealth”) and your physical appearance will approve along will your energy levels. Quitting isnot easy, so somethings to substitute in for smoking are: drinking lots of water, chewing gum,and snacking on vegetables (“Smoking during pregnancy”). While quitting is not easy, everymother who is trying to get pregnant or who is pregnant and is smoking should considerproviding themselves and their baby a better life.
Altogether smoking while pregnant harms both mother and baby. The health risks for thebaby alone are insane. An ectopic pregnancy, low birthweight, visual problems, bronchitis andmany more defects can happen to your baby if you smoke while pregnant. Not only is it hard onthe baby, but it’s hard on you. Quitting might seem hard, but going to your doctor and talkingabout all your options would give the baby a chance at normal life. So, why risk it all when youcan have it all?
