Smoking. Smoking has been associated with an increased risk of
• miscarriage
• growth-retarded babies
The poisonous substances in cigarette smoke cross from the woman’s lungs to her blood stream, and into the foetal blood stream via the placenta. Smoking also reduces the oxygen available to the foetus.
If you smoke, and are planning to get pregnant, stopping before getting pregnant would be ideal, but giving up at any time in the pregnancy is better than no change at all. Cutting down significantly may be the best some women can do, but it is still worth doing. Avoiding the passive smoke of other people, particularly if you live with a smokers is probably of benefit too.
Some women say that they will smoke through pregnancy, so they will have a smaller baby, and labour won’t be so uncomfortable. It is a pretty selfish and lame excuse for knowingly putting your baby at risk. Any potential difference in the size of the resulting baby is unlikely to be felt by a labouring woman. Delivering a healthy 3.4 kilogram baby is probably no more uncomfortable than delivering a potentially sicker, weaker 2.8
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