Impact on Unborn Babies

Impact on Unborn Babies, Infants, Children, and Adolescents
Research has shown that women’s smoking during pregnancy increases the risk
of pregnancy complications, premature delivery, low-birth-weight infants,
stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). (p. 527, 601)

The nicotine in cigarettes may cause constrictions in the blood vessels of
the umbilical cord and uterus, thereby decreasing the amount of oxygen
available to the fetus. Nicotine also may reduce the amount of blood in the
fetal cardiovascular system. (p. 564)

Nicotine is found in breast milk. (p. 616)

Babies of mothers who smoked during pregnancy have lower birth weights. Low
birth weight is a leading cause of infant deaths, resulting in more than
300,000 deaths annually among newborns in the United States. (p. 565,
Ventura et al. 2000)

In general, pregnant smokers eat more than pregnant nonsmokers, yet their
babies weigh less than babies of nonsmokers. This weight deficit is smaller
if smokers quit early in their pregnancy. (p. 564–5)

Smoking by the mother causes SIDS. Compared with unexposed infants, babies
exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are at twice the risk for SIDS, and
infants whose mothers smoked before and after birth are at three to four
times greater risk. (p. 584-585, 601)

Mothers’ smoking during pregnancy reduces their babies’ lung function. (p.
467, 508)

In 2001, 17.5% of teenaged mothers smoked during pregnancy. Only 18% to 25%
of all women quit smoking once they become pregnant. (p. 527, 550)

Children and adolescents who smoke are less physically fit and have more
respiratory illnesses than their nonsmoking peers. In general, smokers’ lung
function declines faster that that of nonsmokers. (p. 485, 509)

Smoking by children and adolescents hastens the onset of lung function
decline during late adolescence and early adulthood. (p. 473-474, 508-509)

Smoking by children and adolescents is related to impaired lung growth,
chronic coughing, and wheezing. (p. 473-474, 485, 508–509)

Citations
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of
Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center
for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and
Health, 2004.

Ventura SJ, Mosher WD, Curtin SC, Abma JC, Henshaw S. Trends in pregnancies
and pregnancy rates by outcome: Estimates for the United States, 1976–96.
National Center for Health Statistics. Vital and Health Statistics
2000;21(56).
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and has negative
health impacts on people at all stages of life. It harms unborn babies,
infants, children, adolescents, adults, and seniors.