Even though people are well aware that smoking is detrimental to their health and that with each cigarette that they smoke they risk developing any one of a number of serious illnesses, they still continue to smoke. Some do so even after suffering from a smoking-related illness and subsequently being cured from it.

In our guide to smoking and pregnancy:

Introduction to smoking when pregnant
Maternal smoking and the health of your child
The benefits of giving up smoking
Smoking mothers and hyperactive children
Maternal smoking and poor school results
Child behaviour disorders linked to smoking
Effects on the foetus and the pregnancy
Effects on the birth & smoking and breastfeeding

Introduction to smoking when pregnant

Nicotine is an extremely powerful and addictive drug.

Bearing this in mind, female smokers who immediately give up smoking as soon as they find out that they are pregnant should be strongly commended for doing so, as they aim to protect the health of their unborn child.

Obviously to a mother, her child is the most important and precious thing in the world. But for the child, isn't it also important for him or her to have a healthy mother, who will not die an early death through developing a preventable smoke-related illness?

In the majority of developed countries, around 20% of women smoke and although nowadays more and more people in general are quitting the habit, it is the women of childbearing age who are finding it the hardest to give up.

Statistics show that a third of women who are of childbearing age regularly smoke, or in other words are smokers.

Out of the 20% of women who do smoke, between 20 - 30% of them smoked throughout their pregnancy, with more than 50% of them smoking over half a packet of cigarettes a day.

Research suggests that if all pregnant women gave up smoking, the number of stillbirths and cot deaths could be reduced by around 10%.

Not only that, but the risks of numerous other smoke-related complications and illnesses before, during and after birth, would also be greatly reduced.

By smoking throughout pregnancy, the health of the mother and the child are at risk. Smoking could also be the cause health problems later on in life for both mother and child as well.

Despite the fact that generally the number of smokers has declined, the number of heavy smokers has practically doubled in the last 10 years, and more so in women than in men. This statistic is of particular interest because it has been proven that the more cigarettes a woman smokes throughout her pregnancy, the more the unborn child will be affected or harmed.

If a mother smokes whilst she is expecting, there is no doubt that the unborn child will be harmed in some way through exposure to tobacco smoke. How seriously depends on how many cigarettes the mother smokes.

Not only could the correct development of the baby's body be at risk, but so could the development of its brain and its health. These problems could have a lifetime impact on the child, possibly staying with him well into adulthood.

Smoking can also complicate the pregnancy, labour, birth and feeding of the child.

If a mother reduces the number of cigarettes she smokes to one or two a day, then the risk of any complications or harm to the baby are lessoned. However, even smoking those one or two cigarettes means that the baby is still being exposed to harmful chemicals, poisons and toxins.

After the birth of their child, around half of the mothers who gave up smoking during their pregnancy, took up the habit again within a few weeks, days or even hours of giving birth.

A child's health may also suffer from passive smoking in the home. Passive smoking can lead to respiratory problems such as asthma and also ear infections amongst other conditions (See section on passive smoking).

Maternal smoking and the health of your child

If you smoke throughout your pregnancy and continue to smoke after the baby has been born, your child will be exposed to secondhand smoke throughout its childhood. This will lead to adverse effects on its health.

Babies who have one or two parents who smoke are twice as likely to suffer from breathing disorders such as bronchitis or asthma, especially during the first two years of their life. They may suffer from more colds, coughs, wheezing and are still at risk of dying from SIDS.

Children exposed to environmental tobacco smoke will be more vulnerable to infections and illnesses and will visit the doctor more often than a child who has not been exposed.

More worryingly, the latest research has found that smoking whilst being pregnant, not only affects the health and growth of the child, but is also associated with hyperactivity, behaviour disorders and poor results at school.

As a child, there is an increased risk that the child will go through puberty at an earlier age and as an adult, the risks are higher for suffering a stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure or from developing a from of diabetes.

The benefits of giving up smoking

Becoming pregnant is an excellent reason to give up smoking for good.

There is more than enough evidence to prove that smoking whilst pregnant has adverse effects on your child's development; physically, emotionally and mentally.

The sooner you quit smoking the better, although it is never too late. Even if you are nearing the end of your pregnancy, your child's health and growth will benefit from no longer being exposed to the harmful substances that tobacco smoke contains.

If you really find it impossible to give up smoking, then, at least try to limit the number of cigarettes you smoke to less than 5 a day if possible.

If you give up smoking within the first few weeks of your pregnancy, you have every chance of giving birth to a completely normal and healthy baby.

If you need help to give up smoking, you should consult your doctor, midwife or health professional.

Ideally, it is best for pregnant women to quit without the use of any Nicotine Replacement Treatments (NRT's), such as patches or gum, as the baby will still be exposed to concentrations of nicotine, which will in turn adversely affect the developing foetus.

Strength and willpower together with counselling from a professional and support from family and friends will be the best way to give up smoking if you are expecting a child.

Smoking mothers and hyperactive children

Scientists have gradually become aware of an increase in the number of hyperactive children being born over the last thirty years, which seemed to coincide with an increase in smoking and above all, heavy smoking in women. This had led them to investigate further in order to find out whether there is a link between the two.

Investigations conducted by the Psychology Department of a Canadian University have uncovered a possible link between heavy maternal smoking and hyperactive (ADHD) children.

Although a very small number of children were observed, it was found that the mothers of these "hyperkinetic" children who were being treated with Ritalin, smoked on average 14 cigarettes a day whilst they were pregnant and increased this amount to 23 cigarettes a day after giving birth.

In comparison, mothers of "normal" children only smoked 6 cigarettes during pregnancy and 8 after giving birth.

The reason for the hyperactivity is found in the fact that high levels of carbon monoxide in the foetus, which were double the levels of the mother, were concentrating in the foetus, depriving it of necessary oxygen and consequently severely damaging and altering the unborn child's central nervous system.

Maternal smoking and poor school results

Several studies were carried out in a number of different countries where thousands children were observed over time and subsequently tested on their reading, maths, language skills and ability to process and carry out auditory tasks and information.

Three different groups were studied:

a) children of active smoking mothers who smoked throughout pregnancy
b) children exposed to passive smoking at home
c) children whose parents didn't smoke at all

The childrens' abilities were evaluated when they reached the age of 11 and the results showed that the children belonging to mothers who smoked were on average shorter in height and several months behind the other two groups in their reading, maths and general schoolwork ability.

Likewise, performance in auditory processing tasks was also lower in the maternal smoking group.

Furthermore, findings also showed that the children in the passive smoking group performed better than the children whose mothers actively smoked, but not as well as the children in the smoke free group.

Child behaviour disorders linked to maternal smoking

Finally, researchers have discovered that women who smoke throughout pregnancy are significantly more likely to have children who possess severe behaviour disorders. These disorders such as anxiety, disobedience or anger problems become apparent as the child becomes older.

The children that displayed the greatest behaviour problems belonged to mothers who smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day during their pregnancy.