Smoking and Pregnancy

Smoking is a major public healthy hazard today. Smoking during pregnancy can harm the health of a woman and her unborn baby. Unfortunately, there are a lot of women who want not to put down a cigarette despite their pregnancy.At least 10 percent of women in the United States smoke during pregnancy!
Cigarette smoke contains more than 2000 chemicals. We don’t know which of these chemicals are harmful to the developing baby, but both nicotine and carbon monoxide play a role in causing adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Smoking nearly doubles a woman's risk of having a low-birthweight baby. The more a pregnant woman smokes, the greater her risk of having a low-birthweight baby. However, if a woman stops smoking even by the end of her second trimester of pregnancy, she is no more likely to have a low-birthweight baby than a woman who never smoked!
There are so many symptoms, that you can get during the pegnancy, that it is better not to smoke at all. Diabetes, depresssion...
But how can a woman say “no” to a cigarette that had attracted her every day? Studies suggest that certain factors make it more likely that a woman will be successful in her efforts to quit smoking during pregnancy. These include:

• Attempting to quit in the past
• Having a partner who doesn't smoke
• Getting support from family or other important people in her life
• Understanding the harmful effects of smoking

I think that the better means of stopping smoking is to love your child, who needs a healthy Mum.