Not so long ago you didn’t have to look too far in public to see a pregnant woman smoking cigarettes.
Since the 1960s, however, science has connected the habit to all sorts of medical problems for the child, let alone the parent. And societal norms have also changed to make smoking in public during pregnancy mostly taboo.
But a lot more than that has changed. Tobacco and nicotine now come in many forms, including e-cigarettes or vaping products, hookahs, chewing tobacco and cigars. All of these carry risks to both moms and babies.
It can be challenging for a woman to quit nicotine when starting a family, but the desire for a healthy pregnancy can also be a terrific motivator. The best advice for future parents who regularly use nicotine is to see a doctor early and ask for help.
Besides setting up the woman for a successful pregnancy, an obstetrician-gynecologist can also help women with cessation programs that help kick the nicotine habit even before she conceives.
It’s also a great time for her partner to quit nicotine. Quitting together gives both partners more support and someone to lean on, and it lowers the risk of secondhand smoke exposure to baby after birth as well as baby’s risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome, or the sudden and unexplained death of a baby).
Additionally, children are more likely to smoke or vape if their parents do so, so quitting before pregnancy sets them up to model a healthy example to their future children.
Tobacco risks to moms and babies
Babies whose moms smoke are at a higher risk of:
- Low birth weight
- Being born early and needing to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit
- Stillbirth
- Childhood asthma, obesity, and bone fractures
- Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or sudden unexplained infant death (SUID)
- Other birth defects, like cleft lip or palate, or an abnormality of the stomach and bowel called gastroschisis
- Problems with the placenta, causing risk of bleeding and complications for both Mom and Baby
For moms, smoking can increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy and abnormal thyroid function as well as lung cancer, mouth and throat cancer, and cervical cancer.
Support while quitting
Quitting tobacco at any time in pregnancy improves the health of both moms and babies.
There are many resources available to help, including medication and counseling. One of the most important things to help ensure success is for pregnant people to be able to ask the people around them to support them.
For example, pregnant women and their friends and family can ask others to leave the room if they’re going to smoke — to leave the house, preferably — and not smoke around them during pregnancy or their babies after delivery.
We know from addiction medicine that a craving, whether for a cigarette or for an alcoholic drink or even for sugar, lasts about three to five minutes. So getting through one craving at a time can be the key to successfully quitting a nicotine habit.
And continuing that healthy change after the baby is born may require making changes in social support, medication or counseling, but it will help to provide a longer, healthier life for both parents and children.
For help quitting, contact your Sanford Health primary care clinic or call your state’s quit line at (800) QUIT-NOW (784-8669). For deaf and hard of hearing callers, relay 711.
Learn more
- Do’s and don’ts during the first trimester of pregnancy
- 5 steps to quit smoking or using tobacco
- Mother of triplets quits smoking for her babies and herself
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Posted In Health Information, Healthy Living, Pregnancy, Women's
