Why is it so dangerous to smoke during pregnancy?

I was reading our previous post and started looking into each factor that may cause infertility and i was so concerned with smoking habits. Many of us may think that we are safe probably because we are casual smokers or we do not smoke kabisa and we forget that there are people around us who smoke. This is called second hand smoking.

kina mama mnaotarajia kubeba mimba na mliona ujauzito tayari kuweni makini na mazingira hatarishi. Kama baba anavuta basi ajulishwe ili asivute ndani ili mtoto asiathirike. Athari za sigara uwe mvutaji au unaevuta moshi wa wengine (second hand smoker) mtoto unamuweka katika hatari, unaweza pata matatizo wakati wa ujauzito na kupoteza mtoto, au wakati wa kujifungua au mtoto atakapo zaliwa anakuja kuwa na maradhi mbalimbali yakimsumbua hata anapokua mtu mzima hasa matatizo ya pumu.

Nimesoma articles mbalimbali zinazoelezea madhara ya kuvuta sigara na hata kuvuta moshi wa sigara toka kwa mtu mwingine, ebu toseme tuone na kujifunza;

Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including truly nasty things like cyanide, lead, and at least 60 cancer-causing compounds. When you smoke during pregnancy, that toxic brew gets into your bloodstream, your baby's only source of oxygen and nutrients.

While none of those 4,000-plus chemicals is good for your baby (you would never add a dollop of lead and cyanide to his strained peaches), two compounds are especially harmful: nicotine and carbon monoxide. These two toxins account for almost every smoking-related complication in pregnancy, says ob-gyn James Christmas, director of Maternal Fetal Medicine for Commonwealth Perinatal Associates at Henrico Doctors' Hospital in Richmond, Virginia.

The most serious complications — including stillbirth, premature delivery, and low birth weight — can be chalked up to the fact that nicotine and carbon monoxide work together to reduce your baby's supply of oxygen. Nicotine chokes off oxygen by narrowing blood vessels throughout your body, including the ones in the umbilical cord. It's a little like forcing your baby to breathe through a narrow straw. To make matters worse, the red blood cells that carry oxygen start to pick up molecules of carbon monoxide instead. Suddenly, that narrow straw doesn't even hold as much oxygen as it should.

How does smoking affect my unborn baby?

• When you smoke, the chemicals from cigarette smoke get into your unborn baby's blood so your unborn baby gets 25% less oxygen, does not grow properly and is less healthy.
• The placenta joins mom and baby - food and oxygen go from Mom's blood to baby through the placenta. Nicotine can cross the placenta thereby decreasing blood flow to the fetus and affecting the fetal cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal system and central nervous system. Pregnant smokers have placentas that do not work as well as they could.
• Every time you have a cigarette, your baby gets less food and oxygen.
• Babies of smokers are more likely to be born prematurely.
• Babies of smokers do not grow as well as they could due to the carbon monoxide. This results in a baby with low birth weight.

If you smoke while you are pregnant you are more likely to:

• Have problems during your pregnancy.
• Have a miscarriage.
• Deliver the baby too soon.
• Have a baby of low birth weight.
• Have problems in labour or delivery.
• Lose your baby during childbirth.
• Have a baby born with lungs that are not developed properly.
• Have a baby who suffers from bronchitis, pneumonia, and/or asthma.
• Have a baby who is weak, unhealthy, or cries more often.
• Have your baby die suddenly while sleeping (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
• Have a child with learning difficulties and behavioural problems.
• Have a child that may show symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Matatizo yanayoweza tokea mbeleni kwa mtoto aliathirika na sigara:

Pengine si watoto wote wanaopata matatizo haya wameyapata toka kwa athari za sigara ila uvutaji wa sigara umeonekana kuwa na athari hizi kwa mtoto.. kupata watotot njiti, watoto wenye shida ya mapafu  na moyo , pumu , vifo vya ghafla yani mtoto analala na haamki tena na zaidi uelewa wa mtoto badae unakua mdogo sana, anakua mtukutu analilia lilia sana, akili yake inakua nzito hata atakapo anza shule. Tukijua haya yote sidhani kama kuna mzazi anapenda mtoto asie na akili msumbufu au mgonjwa mgonjwa.

Weight and size
On average, a pack-a-day habit during pregnancy will shave about a half-pound from a baby's birth weight. Smoking two packs a day throughout your pregnancy could make your baby a full pound or more lighter. While some women may welcome the prospect of delivering a smaller baby, stunting a baby's growth in the womb can have negative consequences that last a lifetime.

Body and lungs
Undersize babies tend to have underdeveloped bodies. Their lungs may not be ready to work on their own, which means they may spend their first days or weeks attached to a respirator. After they're breathing on their own (or even if they did from the start), these babies may have continuing breathing problems — because of delayed lung development or other adverse effects of nicotine. Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are especially vulnerable to asthma, and have double or even triple the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). 

Heart

Babies whose mother smoked in the first trimester of pregnancy are more likely to have a heart defect at birth.

In a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published in February 2011, these babies' risk of having certain types of congenital heart defects was 20 to 70 percent higher than it was for babies whose moms didn't smoke.

Brain function
Smoking during pregnancy can have lifelong effects on your baby's brain. Children of pregnant smokers are especially likely to have learning disorders, behavioral problems, and relatively low IQs.

Watch this for more details;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxYKXPlf_gw

Does my partner’s smoking habits have an affect on the health of the unborn baby?

• Yes –even if you are not smoking, when you are exposed to second-hand smoke, you have a greater chance of having a baby that weighs too little and may have health problems when born.
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)  is also linked to the father’s tobacco use.
• Second-hand smoke exposure during pregnancy can have an impact on a child’s attention, behaviour, and ability to reason and understand.
• Your baby practices breathing before birth. Second-hand smoke stops these breathing-like movements, which can affect lung development.
• It is easier for a pregnant woman who smokes to quit if her partner quits.

What happens to babies who are exposed to second-hand smoke?

• When your baby breathes second-hand tobacco smoke all day, the effect is the same as smoking two to three cigarettes per day.
• Second-hand smoke can cause infants to cough and wheeze more, to have more colds, ear and lung infections.
• They may be hospitalized due to illness in their first year of life.
• Babies whose mother did not smoke during pregnancy, but smoked after birth are twice as likely to die of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). If both parents smoke, the risk is almost four times higher.

If you, your partner or your caregivers smoke in the home, your child will be more likely to:

• Develop more colds, coughs, bronchitis and pneumonia than other children.
• Have lungs that don't work as well.
• Develop asthma.
• Develop middle ear infections.
• Have more allergies.
• Have certain behaviour problems including hyperactivity and shorter attention spans.
• Have a decreased ability to reason and understand (cognition) and poorer performance at school.
• Be the victim of a house fire.
• Get sick or die from eating cigarette butts (4 butts can kill a baby).
• Be at risk for the development of cancer and heart disease in adult life.

Source; https://www.halton.ca/cms/one.aspx?objectId=10547