At the start of pregnancy, your baby is very tiny but during the course of nine months it grows into a fully formed human being. You should remember that these nine months are the most important in your baby's young life.

During this time in the womb, your baby depends on you for everything. For instance, if you take good, nourishing food your baby benefits. If you take plenty of rest and take iron tablets to prevent anaemia, your baby will benefit also.

However, it is a sad fact that the baby may suffer during its time in the womb. Certain drugs, such as alcohol and nicotine, may affect the baby.

Nicotine

is a drug found in cigarettes and it can seriously affect the health of the unborn baby.

Some Important Facts about smoking during pregnancy
The risks the born and unborn child may experience include:

• Smoking increases the risk for stillbirth and infant mortality by 33%.
• Smoking also appears to reduce levels of folate, a vitamin that is important for preventing birth defects.
• Experts believe that women who smoke may pass genetic mutations that increase cancer risks to their unborn babies.
• Children of smoking mothers are at risk for low birth weight and premature delivery. The chances of premature delivery are increased when smoking is added to large amounts of coffee. Premature delivery may mean the child is born before the lungs are ready, so he or she will have trouble breathing.
• Smokers take in poisons such as nicotine and carbon monoxide and these get into the placenta - the tissue that connects mother and baby before birth. These poisons keep the unborn baby from getting the food and oxygen needed to grow. Even if a woman quits at the end of her pregnancy, she can help her baby get more oxygen and have a better chance of survival.
• Smoking during pregnancy may mean that the new baby will have more colds and other lung problems.
• "Breast is Best" but not for smokers; if a mother smokes, the baby drinks nicotine in her breast milk.
• Children of smoking mothers may have learning difficulties and attention-deficit disorder (ADDH). They may be shorter and smaller than children of non-smokers.
• Children of smokers are more likely to smoke when they get older, because they see their parents smoking.
• Children who breathe second-hand smoke are more likely to suffer from pneumonia, bronchitis and other lung diseases; they have more ear infections; they are more likely to develop asthma and have more asthma attacks.

Is it worth stopping?

Yes- if you stop smoking in early pregnancy your baby will develop just like the baby of a non-smoking mother. Even if you stop later the danger will be lessened.

How to Stop

First of all, you have to accept the fact that smoking will harm your baby. Every time you  "pull" on a cigarette your baby does likewise, so the best thing to do is to make a decision to quit smoking.

You may be one of the lucky people who can make a decision to stop smoking and never again take a cigarette. On the other hand, you may find it difficult to stop immediately. Make some rules for yourself.

Some Rules

• I will not smoke in the kitchen.
• I will not smoke until after breakfast, lunch, tea etc.
• I will just keep to one cigarette after each meal.
• I will not smoke in company.

It is well to remember also that your partner has a special interest in protecting the health of your unborn baby so ask him to help you to quit smoking, by not smoking in your presence and by encouraging your efforts to stop.

A Few Points

• The nine months spent by your baby in your womb is the most important period in its whole life.
• If you smoke during that period, your baby will smoke also, and as a result its health may be seriously damaged.
• Its never too late to protect your baby's health by giving up smoking.