Some very good reasons to quit smoking for your baby's sake. - Health

Research shows that around two-thirds of smokers want to give up. What are the effects if you smoke whilst pregnant?

Why give up? Your partner/best friend/kids might want you to give up, but you have to want to quit as well, or their dreams will come to nothing.

For many women, discovering they are pregnant provides the perfect incentive to stub out the cigarettes and abandon other unhealthy recreational habits. There's no use denying it, smoking has been proved to harm your unborn child and stunt the development of your child in further life. Get clued-up here and then ask yourself...is it really worth it?

Some very good reasons to quit for your baby's sake:

1. Smoking can cause long-term damage including breathing difficulties to your child

2. The consequences of your smoking can affect your child for the rest of its life

3. Amongst other harmful actions, smoking raises the levels of carbon monoxide in the blood and nicotine constricts the blood vessels, which means that less oxygen can reach your baby in the womb

4. Smoking can slow down brain development and stunt the growth of your child

5. The harmful chemical cocktail that is in cigarettes is passed on to your baby in the womb. As a result, your baby may not develop as well and may be lighter at birth. This may cause problems in terms of resistance to disease, and general pace of development

6. Smoking can encourage premature birth

7. Mothers who smoke are more prone to complications during their pregnancies which can lead to premature birth. The detachment of the placenta and rupture of foetal membranes as a result of smoking can bring on the early birth of your child

8. Women who stop smoking before pregnancy or during the first 3 to 4 months of pregnancy reduce the risk of having a low birth-weight baby

9. There is a higher risk of your baby developing asthma in childhood if you smoke whilst pregnant

10. Smoking is also linked to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

11. Babies and children raised in a household where there is smoking have more ear infections, colds, bronchitis, and other lung and breathing problems than children from non-smoking families

12. Second hand smoke can also cause eye irritation, headaches, nausea, and dizziness

Speak to your doctor who can expand and clarify the effects of smoking whilst pregnant.

Passive smoking

Even if you don't smoke, inhaling the smoke of others can also harm your unborn child. Plus, it's not just unborn babies that are affected - allowing your child to be a passive smoker can cause asthma attacks, respiratory disease and middle ear disease. They also have a higher risk of developing allergies. Infants under two years old are more prone to severe respiratory infections and cot death. Don't make them breathe your second-hand smoke.

Plus, think of the money you're saving (which you could spend on the baby, or giving yourself a treat after the birth), and how your health will improve by cutting your chances of cancer, strokes, bronchitis, stomach ulcers and diabetes. And you'll look so much better too, so what have you got to lose?

The material contained in this article is presented for information purposes only. It is in no way intended to replace professional medical care or attention by a qualified practitioner. The information in this article cannot and should not be used as a basis for diagnosis or choice of treatment.

Copyright World of Freedom and Ken Lobley

Ken Lobley is a Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and has researched the area of "stopping smoking". He has had fantastic success with helping people to stop smoking as well as other challenges.

Whilst in the domestic and industrial cleaning profession he was able to see first hand the horrible effects smoking has on the environment, especially the inside of buildings and furnishings.

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