Smoking During Pregnancy and Before --Why It's So Harmful

If you smoke you MUST STOP smoking before you try to become pregnant.

Smoking during pregnancy affects your baby before you even know you are pregnant.

Smoking depletes your body of vitamin C and the B vitamins. Quitting before you are pregnant gives your body time to heal and rebuild from the damage that smoking does.

It is a good idea for both parents to quit. Not only will you be good examples to your children, but smoking may damage sperm which can result in more difficulty conceiving and/or a higher incidence of miscarriage.

Women who smoke have a greater chance of miscarriage, and ectopic pregnancy (an embryo that attaches in the fallopian tube or elsewhere outside of the uterus). Smokers may have a more difficult time conceiving.**

There is a study that shows that women who smoke any time from the month before becoming pregnant until the end of the first trimester have a greater chance of having a baby with congenital heart defects*.

Women who smoke during pregnancy have double the risk of having low birth weight and/or premature babies. This is because smoking slows fetal growth.

Smoking increases the risk of stillbirth.

A baby that is low birth weight and/or premature has a much greater likelihood of lifelong disabilities such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and learning disabilities.

Smoking while pregnant doubles the risk of placenta problems. Placenta previa, in which the placenta grows over the cervix and placenta abruptio, in which the placenta prematurely detaches from the uterine wall, are two serious complications that can result.

Smoking during pregnancy triples the risk of SIDS.

If you can't do it for yourself PLEASE do it for your baby. Don't ever plan on lighting up again after baby is born. Second hand smoke is terrible for babies and children--not to mention the rest of us.

If you smoke in your house the toxins from the smoke (the residue left on the floor, walls, furniture, and clothing) cling to everything. This is also known as third-hand smoke. Young babies and children are crawling around on the floor and putting things in their mouths and so are at increased risk from ingesting the toxins.

Smoking after baby is born increases your child's risk for SIDS. It increases the incidence of childhood diseases like asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and ear infections.

For a great resource on quitting and for more information on the effects of smoking during pregnancy and breastfeeding, check out this website.

**U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2004. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health, Atlanta Georgia, May 2004.

Return from Smoking During Pregnancy to Getting Pregnant
Return to Dare to Give Birth Naturally Home