01. January 2024
Smoking during pregnancy: a no-go
Smoking during pregnancy is unhealthy for your child because, according to studies, the children of smokers are supplied with fewer nutrients and therefore often have stunted growth. There can also be an increase in premature births, i.e. children of smokers are born before the 37th week of pregnancy.
Why is smoking so harmful during pregnancy?
Throughout the pregnancy, your unborn child is connected to you via the placenta and the umbilical cord. If you smoke when you are pregnant, smoking disrupts and reduces the blood flow to the placenta. The impaired blood flow means that the placenta is no longer supplied with sufficient oxygen and nutrients. This results in malnutrition in your unborn child, which leads to reduced weight and increases the risk of miscarriage. Scientific studies have shown that it is crucial that you stop smoking as soon as you know you are pregnant. Theories that suddenly quitting smoking would do more harm to your child than simply reducing your cigarette consumption have long been refuted and are outdated.
According to statistics, children who were harmed by nicotine during pregnancy are more likely to die of sudden infant death syndrome than other children. In addition, the lower birth weight of children born to smokers leads to a reduction in their immune system. You can also expect learning difficulties and hyperactivity when your child reaches school age. These psychosomatic abnormalities can be late effects of cigarette consumption during pregnancy. Long-term studies have shown that children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy suffer from diabetes mellitus or latent obesity in the long term (published in the British health journal BMJ (Volume 324, pp 26-27)).
It is important to stop smoking as soon as possible when you realise you are pregnant. It's not always easy to give up cigarettes overnight, so get help if you need it. Ask your doctor how you can quit smoking quickly.
Attention, passive smoking during pregnancy
The consequences of smoking during pregnancy can be so serious that you should also avoid passive smoking. Avoid places where people smoke and ask those around you (family, friends) for understanding if they don't take your situation into consideration of their own accord.