Expecting Mothers – Quit Smoking
All mothers-to-be, who are waiting for their babies desperately, must take care if they are smokers. Your only priority is the unborn baby and you must be attentive regarding his health.
The first thing you can do for your baby is to quit smoking. Several problems can arise to your baby because of your smoking habits. The unborn baby is at maximum danger of many kinds of diseases because of your smoking habit. Every mother wants a healthy baby. But, your smoking habit will never fulfill your wish and it may harm your baby. Statistics show the considerable increment of smoking among women in United States.
The woman who is a chain smoker, when she decides to have a baby or when she is already expecting, should immediately quit smoking. Quitting smoking will prove to be beneficial for you as well as your baby. If a woman wants to quit smoking then pregnancy is the best period to quit it. It is the time, when your only priority is the baby and it would be easier for you to quit it. During the early period of pregnancy, it would be tough for you to quit smoking and you feel unwell. However, at the same time it would be easier to quit also, as it will not taste well to you.
Regarding baby’s health, if you quit smoking before conceiving then it would be much beneficial. During pregnancy, your body should have no nicotine, as it will narrow down the blood vessels. The blood vessels that are contracted because of nicotine, also includes the placenta and the baby. It will be better for your baby, if you even avoid any other replacement of nicotine, such as patch or gum. All these things are a little tough to you. But, if you make yourself mentally strong and do certain planning, then definitely you are going to quit it. A smoker woman if quits before conceiving then the weight of the baby will be same as of the non-smoker woman’s baby. Moreover, if a smoker woman quits smoking during the initial phases of pregnancy then your baby will be quite normal and you are saving him from many severe diseases.
After the birth of baby, do not start smoking again. The baby is always closer to the mother and indirectly you are passing all the bad effects of smoke into him. So, never think that it is too late now to quit. Whenever you feel that, I must quit now that is the best time to quit.
Some deadly diseases, which you are passing to your baby directly, but unknowingly:
- Abruption is caused because of nicotine that at an early period separates fetus from placenta. This could also result in the death of the baby.
- Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of the blood vessels, which are carrying food and oxygen to the baby. It also damages the placenta, which is actually a link between mother and the baby. Due to smoking of the mother, baby weighs less than the normal baby does.
- Your smoking habit will also degrade your child performance in school. There is the danger of leukemia, due to mother’s smoking habit. There are also dangers of attack of pediatric asthma and other kinds of allergies to the baby. There are also several cases of Infant death due to smoking mother.
In spite of such a long list of bad effects on the baby, if the mother still prefers to smoke then you must be ashamed of yourself. Your smoking habit is killing you and your baby. So, determine to quit smoking and bless your child with healthy and long life.