Understanding the Effects of Smoking During Pregnancy

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Smoking, like alcohol and drugs, can cause serious problems during pregnancy and lead to a number of health conditions for both you and your baby. To understand the effects of smoking during pregnancy, you need to understand how nicotine, carbon monoxide and other chemicals reach an unborn baby, as well as potential side effects for the child.

Effects of Smoking During Pregnancy: How Exposure Happens
When you smoke during your pregnancy, nicotine, carbon monoxide and 4,000 other harmful compounds enters your bloodstream. This is your baby’s only way to get oxygen and nutrients and there is no way to block nicotine and other chemicals from entering your baby’s developing body. Among the 4,000+ chemicals in cigarette smoke, nicotine and carbon monoxide do the most damage. These two compounds make it very difficult for an unborn child to get oxygen because nicotine narrows blood vessels, including those in the umbilical cord. Red blood cells also begin to pick up carbon monoxide instead of oxygen.

Effects of Smoking During Pregnancy: Risk to the Baby
Smoking during pregnancy causes a wide range of problems for a developing child:
Babies born to mothers who smoke are twice as likely to be born premature and weigh less than 5 and a half pounds a birth. The risk of stillbirth is also doubled. Stunting a child’s growth in the womb has life-long consequences.
Babies born small and premature also have underdeveloped bodies. They are likely to be born with lungs that can’t yet work on their own and may need to spend weeks attached to a respirator. Even after this, babies may have continued breathing problems through life, including asthma. The risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) is also tripled.
Babies born to mothers who smoke during the first trimester also have an increased risk of heart defects. Smoking increases the risk of congenital heart defects like atrial septal defects by 20 to 70%.
The effects of smoking during pregnancy also last a lifetime for many babies, making lower IQ, cerebral palsy, behavior problems and learning disabilities more likely. Other birth defects are also more likely, such as cleft lip or cleft palate.