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The Effects of Smoking During Pregnancy

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THE EFFECTS OF SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY
Smoking during pregnancy has been proven to increase the risk of pregnancy complications such as premature birth, low birth weight, still birth, miscarriages and sudden death syndrome (SIDS), as well as other defects within the heart, brain or lungs. This report will look at the effects smoking during pregnancy has on a baby before and after birth and will also clarify a variety of programmes that are available to help pregnant mothers quit smoking.
Smoking during pregnancy is a very common dilemma that is happening all over the world. Usually this is an addiction that is picked up by most women at a very young age. While there are some mothers that are able to quit, there are many others out there that find it very hard to quit, putting themselves as well as their unborn child at the risk of having pregnancy complications or birth defects.
A vast majority of pregnant women know that smoking is very harmful, not only to themselves but also to their unborn child. Although they may know a cigarette contains many harmful chemicals in it, they may not know exactly what chemicals are hiding in the cigarette and how harmful it can be for their unborn child. “Health experts figure if all pregnant women refrained from smoking, it would lead to an 11 percent reduction in the number of stillbirths and a 5 percent decrease in newborn deaths” (Thompson, 2011).
A cigarette “contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT” (Quit Smoking Support, 2012). The two most harmful chemicals in a cigarette for a foetus during pregnancy are nicotine and carbon monoxide, which are responsible for most smoking related complications that occur during pregnancy. Together

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