Stop Smoking During Pregnancy

Stop Smoking During Pregnancy

Smoking isn’t just an epidemic that’s overtaking the country it is an epidemic that also affects women that are expecting. It’s hard to think that women who are pregnant would risk harming their baby by smoking, but unfortunately, not all are informed on just how dangerous smoking while pregnant can be for the mother and her unborn fetus.

Let’s break it down into demographics so that you can get somewhat of a picture of which ethnicities are more likely to smoke during pregnancy than others.

Smoking During Pregnancy Statistics

The highest percentage of women that smoke during pregnancy is 19.7% in the Native American community. And the ethnicity least likely to smoke during pregnancy are the Asian Americans at 0.6%. There are a few more ethnicities in the middle such as Hawaiians at 10.5%, African Americans at 6%, and Europian Americans at 4.5%.

There is also the factor of age that should be taken into account when you consider which age groups are more prone to smoking during pregnancy. Women ages 20-24 are at 10.7%, with the age groups 15-19 at 8.5%, and 25-29 falling in at 8.2%.

Other factors are the state that the women live in and her level of education as well. If you have high school experience you at 12.2% likelihood to smoke, if you have a little bit of high school experience then you clock in at 11.7%. While those are the highest percentages the lowest would be a woman with a master’s degree at 0.4%, women with a bachelor’s degree at 1.0%, and in the middle are women that attended a community college and got an associate degree with a percentage of 7.9%.

When it comes to the states that have the biggest issues with women smoking during pregnancy from least to greatest is Missouri 15.3%, Vermont 15.5%, Montana 16.5%, Kentucky 18.4%, and West Virginia 25.1%. Now that we have all the figures out of the way it is time to let you all know the dangerous consequences of smoking during pregnancy.

Risks and harmful impacts of smoking during pregnancy

One of the side effects of smoking during pregnancy is preterm membrane rupture meaning that you will go into preterm labor. This is dangerous because your baby may not be ready to come into this world and your body may not be ready to give birth at that time putting you and your child’s health in jeopardy.

When you smoke cigarettes for every day that you smoke a cigarette it doubles your risk of stillbirth. Stillbirths caused by women that smoke during pregnancy accounts for 47% of infant deaths. Compared to women who smoke the risk of sudden infant death syndrome rises by 10%.

25% of babies that are born to mothers that smoke is born drastically underweight. There are also consequences for the mother as far as smoking during pregnancy such as the risk of hypertension at 6.8% which can cause a mother to contract preeclampsia and be placed on bed rest or be placed in the hospital.

Another risk for mothers that smoke is the risk of internal bleeding with a percentage of 28.1%. Bleeding outside of implantation bleeding is a cause for concern and may cause your physician to have you come in to be examined more thoroughly to determine the effects of the bleeding. We have listed the consequences of smoking now we will let you know the different kinds of smoking that can affect you and your baby.

1. Firsthand smoke is when you inhale the chemical fumes from a cigarette directly into your body. Doing this can cause birth defects like cleft lip, weakened lungs, brain damage, and increases the risk of miscarriage. This is the most dangerous of all of the types of smoking because all of the toxic chemicals are absorbed directly by the baby.

2. Secondhand smoke is the type of smoke where a mother is around others that are smoking and inhales the fumes emitted by others. It may not be as dangerous as other types of smoke, however, it can still cause learning deficiencies, behavioral deficiencies, low birth weights, and even miscarriage.

3. The last type of smoke is thirdhand smoke which is the toxic fumes that can be stuck in your clothes, hair, carpets, furniture, curtains, and other items. Thirdhand smoke can lead to illnesses after birth like respiratory ailments and increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Overall mothers that are expecting children should avoid smoking, avoid people that do smoke, and thoroughly clean their environment to cleanse their items of the toxic chemicals.

There are some chemicals that pass from mother to baby that can have dire consequences for the unborn child. Menthol is found in most cigarettes and can cause inflammation of your child’s airways. Butane can cause abnormalities within your child’s brain and being that their brain is developing everyday this chemical can be especially harmful.

Cyanide that is found within the cigarette can cause diabetogenic effects for the mother and the baby. Tar consistently lowers the amount of oxygen that reaches the baby. The chemical nicotine will negatively interact and stunt your baby’s lung and brain development. Lastly, carbon monoxide can cause permanent fetal brain damage and even fetal death.

Read Smoking or Vaping and How It Affects Mental Health

Simple tips to quit smoking during pregnancy

We understand that cleansing yourself and your environment of the smoking urge and habit may be difficult to do. However, there are some steps you can take to do this like ridding your home of all things related to smoking, seeking replacement therapy to control your urges, finding other ways to relieve stress, asking your doctor for help, and asking your family for help as well.

When you stop smoking and rid your environment of smoking and things related to it the benefits for you and your child improve drastically. Your child will develop mentally and physically in a healthy way and your child will gain weight normally. When you quit the risk of stillbirth, hypertension, bleeding, preterm labor, and preterm membrane rupture are reduced exponentially the longer you abstain from smoking during pregnancy.

Reading more tips and tricks for your pregnancy at Child mode.