How Passive Smoking Affects Your Unborn Baby?

Smoking is injurious to health! Not only for the person who smoke, but also for others around them. Smoking has all the harmful effects on any individual who doesn't smoke, but is exposed to the poisonous materials of tobacco.

Pregnant women are no exceptions. Continuous and prolonged exposure to smoke by pregnant women will result in many associated health problems for the foetus. It is important that a pregnant woman should be aware of the various harmful effects of passive smoking for unborn babies.

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There are many evidences to show that second hand smoking harms your baby. It is proposed by different studies; the latest being published in the medical journal, Pediatrics.

Effects of passive smoking on unborn babies include even the most dangerous genetic mutations. This will increase the chances of having a baby with birth defects.

Here are some of the most important harmful effects of passive smoking on unborn babies.

Physical deformity: One of the most important effects of passive smoking on unborn babies includes the increased chances of having physical deformities. Continuous exposure to the harmful products in the smoke will initiate genetic mutations and will result in deformities of feet, testes and brain.

Birth defects: If you are exposed to passive smoking continuously throughout your pregnancy period, chances are more that you will get a baby with major or minor physical defects. This is also the reason that mutations occur due to the dangerous toxic products entering the body of a pregnant woman through passive smoking.

Stillbirth: There are many studies that have been conducted to study about the relation between passive smoking and stillbirth. They prove that the chance of experiencing stillbirth is around 23 percent for a pregnant woman who is exposed to passive smoking.

Low birth weight: Many women usually fail to realise that the reason for the low birth weight of their baby is due to the continuous exposure to passive smoking. If you find that your baby has low weight during prenatal ultrasound scan, understand that it is due to foetal hypoxia and vasoconstriction, which cause a decreasing blood supply to the placenta.

Defective internal organs: A pregnant woman who is exposed to passive smoking will not get enough blood supply to their placenta. This will result in a defective fetal cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal system and central nervous system. Studies show that abnormal neurobehavioural development in babies is linked to exposure to passive smoking by the mother.

Respiratory problems: Another way how second hand smoke harms your baby is by causing abnormal respiratory development. Babies born to mothers who were exposed to passive smoking may develop breathing difficulty and have a high chance of developing asthma in the future. These mutations are likely to have lifelong impact in the form of serious and irreversible birth defects.

Premature birth: Another problem that a mother who is exposed to passive smoking may face is premature birth of the foetus. This will affect the normal development of the baby, which may present complications in the future as well.