Research-backed
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Pregnancy is a time for special care and extra caution. As a new life is growing within you, you have to be responsible enough to take care of it. This responsibility calls for embracing a healthy life style and giving up on unhealthy habits.
One such thing that you need to give up is smoking. It goes without saying that smoking puts both you and your baby at risk. While you are aware of the harmful effects of smoking, you will be in for a shock to learn the negative effects it has on babies.
A research study by Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany, reveals that pre and postnatal exposure of babies to nicotine results in impaired auditory functions and hearing problems.
This is because of the anomalous development in the auditory part of the brain known as auditory brainstem that analyses the patterns of sound. When this auditory function is impaired, babies tend to develop difficulties in learning, and speech, among others.
The research team exposed mice to nicotine (1) during the prenatal period and were given mother’s milk till they turned three weeks old, the age equivalent to that of kids in primary school. It was found that mice exposed to nicotine were ineffective in transmitting the sound signals to the auditory neurons. Also, the transmission of signals was less accurate, and the sound patterns were not perfectly decoded. Hence, the researchers inferred that chronic smoking in mothers could be the underlying cause for impaired auditory function in children.
Dr. Ursula Koch, a professor at the Freie University say: “We do not know how many other parts of the auditory system are affected by nicotine exposure. More research is needed about the cumulative effect of nicotine exposure and the molecular mechanisms of how nicotine influences the development of neurons in the auditory brainstem.”
Majority studies reveal an association between nicotine and neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as:
- Increased chances of birth defects such as premature birth, low birth weight, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Low birth weight and premature babies have far more health complications and developmental problems compared to babies with normal weight
- Reduced size of lungs, thereby increasing the risk of developing lung problems
- Increased heart rate
- Increased levels of irritability, colic, obesity, emotional, and behavioral problems
Not just that, you too, will have problems such as:
- High risk of miscarriage, usually in the first trimester
- Chances of ecotopic pregnancy, where the fertilized egg implants in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus. The fallopian tube cannot support the growing egg and therefore cannot develop naturally
- Increased risk of pregnancy complications such as placental abruption and placenta previa
- Delayed development of the fetus
- Increased amount of carbon monoxide in your body, reducing the availability of oxygen required by the baby
Being exposed to second-hand smoke has the same effects on your baby, beside the medical complications such as asthma, allergies, and ear infections.
As ever, quitting is the best thing you can do for yourself, more so when you are pregnant. So, set your priorities and have a safe and healthy pregnancy.
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