Effects of tobacco on fetus

Smoking During Pregnancy (Effects on Fetus)
Studies over the past 20 years document many health effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), lower birth weight, a higher incidence of miscarriages, respiratory problems, and other complications. Some studies link maternal smoking with attention deficit disorder, decreased bone density, and functional disturbances in the nervous system.
1. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
The most devastating effect on the fetus from smoking during pregnancy is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS. This is when the sudden death of an infant occurs without any evidence or a direct cause during the post-neonatal period, but researchers have been able to link smoking during pregnancy to SIDS. The researches have discovered that nicotine is an active agent in causing SIDS when the smoker is pregnant. One study explained that maternal smoking during pregnancy results in a failure of protective reflexes after birth that places the infant at risk for sudden death during normal life stresses that may occur in sleep, such as a lack of oxygen to living tissues (hypoxia) usually resulting from prone sleeping or obstruction of the airways. While researchers have concluded that infants that are exposed to maternal smoke in utero are more compared to unexposed infants, are more likely to experience a cessation in breathing, and are less able to revive their breathing when this termination occurs.

2. Lower Birth Weight
Maternal smoking while pregnant also causes lower birth weight due to preterm birth or growth retardation. Low birth weight babies are at risk for serious health problems throughout their lives because a known provider to reduction in neonatal size is when a women smokes while she is pregnant. On average, infants born to smoking mothers have a reduction in birth weight ranging between 150 and 250 grams and babies born to smokers are 1.5-3.5 times more likely to have low birth weights than babies born to nonsmoking mothers. The greater the number of cigarettes smoked by a woman during pregnancy, the less well the fetus will grow and develop. Maternal smoking during pregnancy also leads to lower infant birth weight because it alters the composition of the placenta by reducing the number of capillaries and thickening the membrane.

3. Congenital Deformities
In addition to the negative effects mentioned above, maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy leads to several other problems, including malformations apparent at birth. Such malformations include cleft palates, tumors of the central nervous system, and several different types of cancer. Women who smoke during pregnancy are 50-78 percent more likely to give birth to babies with cleft lips or palates than women who do not smoke during pregnancy. There is also a significant association between multiple malformations and maternal smoking, such as oral clefts, limb reduction defects, urinary organ malformations, and craniosystosis. Individuals exposed to maternal tobacco smoke in the womb are also at an increased risk for developing certain types of cancer at some point in their lives, because it is in utero that the cells are rapidly differentiating and may be more vulnerable.
Rumors about doctors recommending smoking while pregnant?
Many rumors of mothers claiming their doctor told them to keep smoking during their pregnancy circulate in chat rooms and by word of mouth. It is claimed the doctors tell their patients to continue smoking because quitting may cause great stress to the fetus. While quitting may stress the fetus, the benefits far outweigh the potential risks. The facts however, are that no doctor in their right mind would condone this behavior. The most liberal suggestion a doctor may give concerns only women whom they think can't stop immediately. This suggestion is to cut down until you quit, but every suggestion ends with the very strong suggestion that an individual should stop smoking due to the incredible threat to their child's health at birth and well being after birth (www.webmd.com).
Some effects of smoking during pregnancy are more serious than others but all carry the chance of death to a newborn. These effects range from stillbirth to premature birth and affect a child later in life causing behavioral and developmental problems.
<reference> Annapolen, Cori S Maternal smoking during pregnancy: the public health crisis and the legal responses for the mother’s actions. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from Second-Hand Smoke in Utero: The Effects and Legal Implications Web site: http://nosmokingcontest.org/papers/papers05/05,ANNAPOLEN,Cori,Maternal%20Smoking%20during%20Pregnancy%20Tobacco%20Contest.htm </reference>
<reference> Hazelden (April 26, 1999). Smoking can have severe effects on fetus, newborns. Retrieved February 27, 2009, from Smoking can have Severe Effects on Fetus, Newborns Web site: http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/ade90426.page </reference>
<reference> http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/smoking-during-pregnancy </reference>

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