Smoking during pregnancy has implications such as:

• Exposes the fetus to smoke as a result of being the most directly affected passive smoker with adverse effects on health and development.
• Has the same effect on both the pregnant and the fetus, whether in the form of active or passive smoking.
• Early aging and detachment of the placenta.
• Placenta precursor.
• Early rupture and premature labor.
• Remaining intrauterine fetal development.
• Increase in morbidity and mortality of the fetus.

You should know that smoking increases the chances of:

• Birth of low-birth-weight infants.
• Child asthma.
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
• Birth of infants with vulnerability to respiratory infections.
• Attention Deficit Syndrome.
• Behavioral disorders in childhood.
• Breastfeeding failure.

Smoking during breastfeeding has implications such as reduced breast milk production, taste alteration, and aversion to the breast of the mother.

Safer Choice: Avoid exposure to active or passive smoking.
If you or others around you smoke, your fetus or your newborn child is exposed to smoke. A smoke free environment is the best for you and your child. Given that dependence on nicotine is strong, many people may have difficulty stopping or reducing smoking. Stopping smoking is the safest and best option.

Source: Cyprus National Addictions’ Authority