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One of the major public
health problems is smoking. No matter how hard health organizations
advertise on the negative effects of smoking, smokers seem to pay no
attention. As a matter of fact, the age of people who starts to smoke
gets younger and younger. If before, the problem lies on adults only,
nowadays, teenagers are also part of the matter. Taking that as our
present situation, don’t be surprised when you see a pregnant woman
smoking too.
Some of the harmful effects of smoking in a person’s health include
lung cancer as well as other lung problems, cardiovascular conditions
and other kinds of disorders. You can just imagine how harmful smoking
during pregnancy can be. Aside from risking the health of the mother,
the baby inside also suffers.
Cigarette smokes contain more than 2,500 chemicals. Two of those
chemicals, nicotine and carbon monoxide cause undesirable pregnancy
situations. One is the possibility of having a low-birthweight baby.
These are babies weighing less than 5 ˝ pounds. In the United States,
a study made in 2004 showed that 11.9% of babies given birth by
smokers were of low birthweight while babies of nonsmokers with this
condition only reached 7.2%. Smoking can be accounted for the slow
fetal growth and can also be the cause of preterm delivery. A lot of
serious health problems may arise to premature and low-birthweight
babies like chronic lifelong diseases including cerebral palsy, mental
retardation and sometimes, even death.
Studies also suggest that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk
of placental problems such as placenta previa (the placenta is
attached too low in the uterus and covers part or all of the cervix).
Another is placental abruption. This condition may lead to the
premature rupture of the membrane right in the sac that holds the baby
inside the uterus. It may break even before the completion of 37 weeks
of pregnancy therefore delivering the baby as a premature. Another
risk of smoking during pregnancy is ectopic pregnancy. Here, the
embryo becomes implanted in the fallopian tube or other abnormal
locations instead of the uterus. These situations require surgically
removing the baby to protect the mother’s life.
Quitting is not always a bad thing. There are cases in which we can
say that “quitters are winners”. Smoking is an example. For your own
good as well as your baby’s, it is advisable to quit from smoking as
soon as possible. A lot of ways can be done to help you quit from it.
There is the “quitting cold turkey” style in which you throw out all
your cigarettes and simply vow not to smoke again,; Nicotine
replacement in which you replace your cigarette with nicotine patches,
gums, and sprays; hypnosis or acupuncture; taking of safe medications;
or quitting gradually in which you take your steps of stopping the
habit slowly until you no longer crave for it.
Now, if you are not a smoker and is pregnant, you should avoid being
around smokers. Second hand smokers actually go for the same risks as
the regular smokers. Exposing yourself around these people during
pregnancy may cause the same problems with your child as if you did
the smoking yourself.
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