Smoking after the fourth month of pregnancy is a major cause of prematurity and the birth of underweight babies.
We all know that smoking is harmful to our bodies and that we should not smoke cigarettes. Whether you inhale or not, nicotine is passed into your bloodstream and then into the baby’s.
The placenta acts as the fetus’ lungs and if nicotine is passed through, it speeds up the fetal heart rate and interrupts the baby’s respiratory movements. Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen available to the fetus, which could slow tissue growth.
Mothers who smoke bear babies who weigh less than mothers who do not smoke. Smoking can also increase the chances of bleeding during pregnancy, miscarriage, premature rupture of the membranes, hemorrhage before or early in labor, hemorrhage after delivery, congenital abnormality, stillbirth, and death of the baby in the week following delivery.
The more a woman smokes, the more likely these things are to happen.