Smoking While Pregnant Research Paper

Smoking While Pregnant Parents always want what is best for their children and it starts even before the child is born. To ensure your child’s safety it begins when a woman becomes pregnant. To enable this protection and ensure a healthy pregnancy, smoking cigarettes are very dangerous for both the pregnant mother and the unborn child. According to the Surgeon General’s Warnings printed on cigarette packaging it states: “Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal injury, premature birth, and low birth weight” these statements are only a beginning to all the dangers of smoking while pregnant. Cigarettes are highly addictive and there are many different alternatives for pregnant women to help quit smoking and promote a healthier pregnancy along with a healthier future for the growing child. Smoking while pregnant has major effects during the neonatal period, after a

Most children born to mothers who’ve smoked suffer from respiratory distress such as asthma, allergies, and sinus. Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to other long term such as learning disabilities, attention-deficient hyperactivity disorder, increased risk of nicotine addiction, and also behavioral problems. According to Alphonso, “…study found pregnant women with a history of antisocial behavior…are almost 70 percent more likely to have a violent child if they smoke 10 cigarettes a day,” (“Smoking in Pregnancy”). These affect occur do to the exposure of nicotine to the nervous system during the gestational period. Also some children suffer from other long-term effects that include obesity, hypertension, and Type 2 diabetes these are due to the restrictions in uterus during development. With all the health risk even after birth there should laws and regulations created to protect the safety and well-being of and unborn