If you feel that your health is quite good and you don’t need to quit smoking, then think about your baby’s health. Smoking during pregnancy effects can affect you as well as your baby, during, and after your baby is born. The nicotine, carbon monoxide, and numerous other poisons you inhale through a cigarette are passed to your bloodstream and go directly to your baby.

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Smoking During Pregnancy

Smoking during pregnancy can affect you and your baby both.

• Reduce the available oxygen to you and your baby.

• Escalate the heart rate of your baby.

• Raise the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.

• Increase the chances of premature delivery and low birth weight.

• Escalate the risk of respiratory (lung) problems in your baby.

• Increases risks of birth defects.

• Increases risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

The more cigarettes you smoke every day, the higher chances of developing health problems in your baby. There is no “safe” level of smoking during pregnancy.

How Does Secondhand Smoke Affect Pregnancy?

Secondhand smoke or passive smoking is the combination of smoke from a burning cigarette and smoke exhaled by a smoker.

The smoke that burns off the end of a cigarette contains more harmful substances than the smoke inhaled by the smoker.

If you get exposed to secondhand smoking during pregnancy regularly, the risk of stillbirth, a low birth weight baby, a baby with birth defects, and other complications of pregnancy increased rapidly.

Babies who exposed to secondhand smoke are at a higher risk of allergies, asthma, more frequent lung, and ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

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How Can I Quit Smoking During Pregnancy?

Here are some tips that may help you kick your habit:

• Hide your matches, lighters, and ashtrays.

• Designate your home in a no-smoking zone.

• Ask the smokers not to smoke near you.

• Drink some caffeinated beverages; caffeine may stimulate your urge to smoke. Avoid alcohol, as it may also increase your urge to smoke.

• Change your habits connected with smoking. If you smoked while driving or when feeling stressed, try other activities to replace smoking.

• Keep chewing gums on hand for those times when you get the urge to smoke.

• Stay active to keep your mind off smoking: take a small walk, pregnancy exercise, read a book, or try a new hobby.

• Do not go to places where many people are smoking such as bars or clubs, and smoking sections of restaurants.

Conclusion

Smoking during pregnancy is quite harmful to you as well as your baby. There are so many complications that can occur if you smoke while pregnant. So, quit smoking if you are still smoking its good for your little one.

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