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Home › Articles › Life Circumstances and Challenges During Pregnancy › Smoking for Two

Smoking for Two

Lighting Up While Pregnant is a Dangerous Pursuit

By Felicia Hodges

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We've all heard the grim facts about cigarette smoking – how it's the main cause of lung cancer and that it is also linked to cancers of the mouth, lip, throat and windpipe. Or that it's the major cause of preventable deaths in the United States and that people who smoke die an average of five to eight years earlier than people who don't.

We've also heard about how addictive the chemicals inside tobacco can be. Ask any smoker who has ever tried unsuccessfully to quit, and she'll probably tell you just how tough it is to shake the craving for nicotine.

Even though the health risks for the unborn child – including low birth-weight, respiratory problems and learning disabilities – are well documented, the smoker who has just found out she is pregnant still has to figure out whether or not the next nine months of her life will be littered with empty cigarette packs.

"People have to understand that smoking is an addiction," says smoker Rhoda Crumpler, who quit smoking cold turkey as soon as she found out she was pregnant with her son, Zuri, in 1992. "The chemicals in those things make it almost impossible for people who have been smoking for years to just up and walk away." Rhoda says the reason she quit was because of the health risks smoking posed to her unborn son.

The Dangers of Smoking
According to most anyone in the medical and health fields, Rhoda did one of the best things she could have done for Zuri. Studies have shown that smoking during pregnancy can increase the baby's risk of developing meningitis, asthma, oral cleft, stomach difficulties, sleep problems and attention, motor control and perception disorders. According to the Association of Labor Assistants and Childbirth Educators, a recent Danish study even linked smoking during pregnancy to fetal brain damage that may promote criminal behavior later in life.

But even after reading the long list of things smoking can do to the baby, some women just can't quit.


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