Smoking during pregnancy
Nicole Wendler holds a PhD in biology in the field of oncology and immunology. As a medical editor, author and proofreader, she works for various publishers, for whom she presents complex and extensive medical issues in a simple, concise and logical manner.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.Smoking during pregnancy harms the unborn baby and the expectant mother. Pregnant women should therefore absolutely refrain from cigarettes. Many women even manage to stop smoking permanently at this stage of their life. Read here why smoking is so dangerous during pregnancy and how to stop smoking.
Why is smoking dangerous during pregnancy?
Smoking is harmful to health in every phase of life, because the smoke from a cigarette contains around 4,000 toxic substances. For expectant mothers, smoking is particularly fatal: the toxins not only harm the mother during pregnancy, but also the baby. As a pregnant woman, you should therefore be aware of your responsibility towards your child and stop smoking during pregnancy. Passive smoke should also be avoided.
Dangers to mother and pregnancy
Compared to non-smokers, women who smoke during pregnancy have an increased risk of heart attack, cardiovascular problems, high blood pressure and pregnancy complications. The latter include:
- Premature birth, miscarriage or stillbirth (female smokers are twice as likely to suffer spontaneous abortions)
- premature rupture of the bladder
- Fallopian and ectopic pregnancy
- Placenta praevia (incorrect position of the mother cake)
- premature detachment of the placenta
Embryonic Development Risk ...
The not yet fully developed organism of the unborn is extremely sensitive to all harmful substances. Smoking during pregnancy is therefore particularly dangerous. The baby literally smokes along with the pregnant woman. With every puff on the cigarette, carbon monoxide enters the maternal bloodstream and displaces the oxygen there. In addition, the nicotine constricts the blood vessels, which worsens the blood flow through the placenta. The supply of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus decreases and the baby's heart beats faster. Delays in development and growth are the result. A cleft lip and palate forms even more frequently.
When smoking during pregnancy, other toxic substances besides nicotine reach the embryo. These include carcinogenic substances such as nitrosamines, which can damage the genetic make-up.
... and the child's later life
In many cases it can be recognized immediately after birth: Compared to children of non-smokers, babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are usually smaller and weigh less at birth. Lung function is often impaired in these newborns, and growth and development disorders can occur. Smoking during pregnancy also increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
Smokers are also more susceptible to children when they are young. You are at an increased risk of allergies, asthma and infectious diseases. Increasingly, they develop school problems due to a lack of concentration and behavioral disorders such as ADHD. Infertility or reduced fertility as well as obesity can be health problems that extend into adulthood.
Smoking During Pregnancy - How Much Is Harmful?
Every cigarette is harmful! As a pregnant woman you should try to completely give up cigarettes. You should also avoid secondhand smoke, because you are also ingesting harmful substances. In extreme cases, the associated health risks are comparable to the risks involved in active smoking during pregnancy.
So the expectant father is also challenged: Men should support their pregnant partner by not smoking in her presence or - even better - by not smoking. Smoke particles and pollutants are deposited on clothing, tables, beds, couches or carpets and can also be inhaled later. So make sure you have a smoke-free apartment.
As a pregnant woman, ask partners, roommates, and visitors not to smoke around you. Smoking in the car should also be taboo during pregnancy.
Quit smoking!
Pregnancy is the reason for smokers to stop smoking. The chances of success in this particular life situation are not bad: Around a third of pregnant smokers stop smoking in the first three months of pregnancy. Around 45 percent of pregnant women worldwide manage to become smoke-free. Conversely, this means that more than half of women continue to smoke during pregnancy.
In the best case scenario, women who want to have children already stop smoking before conception. In pregnancy, however, it is not too late in the first few weeks either: women who end the vice by the beginning of the second trimester of pregnancy are just as much at risk of pregnancy complications as non-smokers.
Successfully quitting smoking during pregnancy
Quitting something that has long been part of everyday life is not easy. Despite being highly motivated, some women need additional support in order to quit smoking during pregnancy. Through behavior therapy with a trained medical professional or with the help of a special smoking cessation course for pregnant women, around four out of 100 women manage to quit smoking during pregnancy. Information material about offers and professional help in your area can be obtained from your gynecologist.
The University of Tübingen offers an internet platform that supports pregnant women in giving up tobacco and alcohol. The project called IRIS-I and IRIS-II, funded by the Federal Ministry of Health between 2011 and 2015, is free and anonymous to this day. From 2016 to 2018, IRIS III was funded by the Federal Center for Health Education (BzgA). Over a period of twelve weeks, pregnant women receive help, background information, exercises and solution strategies via email to help them quit smoking during pregnancy (http://www.iris-plattform.de/).
Nicotine replacement therapy with nicotine patches or chewing gum does not offer a better success rate than a support program if you want to quit smoking during pregnancy. There are also health concerns here. If there is no other way, nicotine replacement therapy is apparently still better than smoking, especially for heavy smokers (over ten cigarettes per day). Be sure to talk to your gynecologist beforehand.
Smoking cessation drugs are not suitable for pregnant women. All treatment options for smoking cessation should always be clarified with the doctor.
If both future parents are smokers, a joint waiver improves the chances of success. However, if the expectant father continues to use a cigarette, the pregnant woman will relapse more often. Thus, the fathers make a not insignificant contribution to the healthy development of their child.
Do you smoke e-cigarettes during pregnancy?
E-cigarettes (electronic cigarettes) are not a sensible alternative for pregnant women. Instead of tobacco, a nicotine-containing liquid, the so-called liquid, evaporates in e-cigarettes. In addition to nicotine, this contains a number of additives and nebulizers (propylene glycol, glycerine, ethanol, flavorings, etc.) that can be harmful to health and vary greatly depending on the manufacturer. There are also indications that carcinogenic substances are produced during evaporation (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein). In addition, there is no scientific evidence that e-cigarettes are suitable for smoking cessation. Pregnant women should therefore also keep their hands off e-cigarettes.
Smoking during pregnancy - every day counts!
If you stop using nicotine overnight, you don't need to worry that your unborn child will experience withdrawal symptoms. On the contrary: with every day without smoke you reduce the risk of health hazards and complications for you and your baby. So the sooner you stop smoking during pregnancy, the better!
Do not take up the cigarette again after the birth: When breastfeeding, your baby absorbs the toxins from the cigarette through the breast milk. And even if you do not breastfeed: Even living in a "smoker's apartment" is just as harmful to the development and health of your child as smoking during pregnancy!
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