How can smoking harm my unborn baby?

Smoking during pregnancy can seriously affect both your own, and your baby's health. When you smoke, over 4,000 chemicals enter your body. One of those chemicals is carbon monoxide, which gets into your bloodstream, and stops your baby from getting as much oxygen. This will affect your baby's growth rate and cause its heart rate to rise.

If you smoke during pregnancy, your baby is more likely to:

• be born prematurely,
• have a low-birth weight, as babies of smokers are, on average, 200g (8oz) lighter than other babies. The more you smoke, the more your baby's weight is affected,
• cry more after the birth because of nicotine withdrawal symptoms,
• have smaller organs,
• have poor lung function,
• get painful conditions in early childhood, such as inflammation of the middle ear and asthmatic bronchitis, and
• possibly die from crib death.

Also, when you smoke:

• your chances of having a miscarriage are increased,
• you have a higher chance of the placenta coming away from the womb before the baby is born, which can cause premature birth or stillbirth,
• you are more likely to have morning sickness, and
• you put your own health at risk, increasing the risk of conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

The sooner you stop smoking, the better - and it's never too late. Even stopping in the last few weeks of your pregnancy can still benefit you and your child. There are lots of groups and organizations which can help support your decision to stop smoking.