subject: Smoking Through Pregnancy - Hidden Dangers To Your Unborn Child [print this page] Many people are aware of the dangers of smoking and second hand smoke. If you smoke during pregnancy, it only makes sense that those dangers would affect your unborn child as well. There has been studies and research done regarding this topic. These studies have found correlations between smoking and the effects on the babies. Many medical problems have been positively correlated with smoking while pregnant. Even if the pregnant mother didn't smoke but was exposed to second hand smoke, the baby was still in danger. Here is information about some the serious consequences of smoking during pregnancy.
The worst effect of smoking during pregnancy can be the death of your child. Also, there are real dangers associated with second hand smoke, one of which is the increased chance of the baby dying from SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Specifically, SIDS is defined as the sudden death of an infant less than a year old, and there is no explanation or apparent cause of it. As a pregnant mother, this is obviously a very serious risk to take with your child. We believe more smoking mothers would harder to quit smoking if they were more educated and aware of the risks associated with their smoking.
Infants of smoking mothers are displaying an interesting trend. Babies with smoking mothers have a higher heart rate than those of babies whose mothers didn't smoke. Women who smoke have babies with a heart rate that is approximately 30% higher. This applies to women who smoked during pregnancy. The exact cause of this condition is difficult to know. However, when you consider that the baby was not receiving the normal amount of oxygen due to the smoking, then perhaps that played a part in it.
Smoking during pregnancy can have a host of possibilities, all of them negative. There are many culprits, but cigarette smoking is the main one.
Blood vessels constrict when nicotine is present in the blood. Your heart rate increases to compensate for the reduced blood flow. The baby's brain and cardiovascular system will be compromised.
For women who smoke during pregnancy, this should be a tremendous cause for concern.
The highly negative effects of smoking during pregnancy are not fully understood at this time. While we are mainly focused on the effects on the unborn baby, these same effects do not go away after childbirth. These far reaching consequences can stay with the child far into adulthood. The effects of the dire consequences of smoking during pregnancy can last the child's lifetime. Quitting smoking is vital to the baby and the mother for this reason.
Any of these strategies can potentially be extremely helpful for yourself throughout and after the pregnancy. Anyhow, if you among those females who experience difficult to get pregnant, then check out the bottom of this page.
