Can you smoke while pregnant

Fact: There is no safe amount of smoking. Every puff of a cigarette releases harmful chemicals that will reach your baby and affect your health too. E-cigarettes are also not harmless. Although there is still much to learn about e-cigarettes, pregnant women should not use them. The nicotine in e-cigarettes is harmful for developing babies.

Fact: Smoking may make you feel calmer, but it hurts your body more than it helps. The relaxed feeling is only temporary and whatever is causing your stress will likely return. Smoking speeds up your heart rate and increases your blood pressure. It also increases the carbon monoxide in your bloodstream, which means your baby gets less oxygen. Fact: Smoking during pregnancy increases the chances of having a low birth weight baby.

Babies with low birth weight are more likely to have serious health problems than normal weight babies. Fact: Pregnant women have other ways to quit smoking besides cold turkey, which is quitting without any preparation or counseling. Smokefree Women offers many resources that can help you quit.

Try signing up for a text message program, like SmokefreeMom. While some smokers try medications to help them quit, the risks of using them while pregnant are not fully known. Myth 7: I smoked during my last pregnancy and had a healthy baby, so this next baby will be healthy, too. If you smoked and had a healthy pregnancy in the past that does not mean your next one will be healthy, too.

Quitting smoking is one big thing you can do to ensure you have a healthy pregnancy and baby. Here are more steps you can take to have a healthy pregnancy. BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world. When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals.

We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing. Learn more about our editorial and medical review policies. Tobacco and nicotine cessation during pregnancy. Committee opinion number American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Anderson TM et al. Maternal smoking before and during pregnancy and the risk of sudden unexpected infant death. Health effects of secondhand smoke. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking during pregnancy. Tips from former smokers.

March of Dimes. Perry MF et al. Influence of periconception smoking behavior on birth defect risk. Polakowski, LL et al. Prenatal smoking cessation and the risk of delivering preterm and small-for-gestational-age newborns.

Taylor K et al. Journal of the American Heart Association 10 11 : e Zhou Q et al. Association between preconception paternal smoking and birth defects in offspring: Evidence from the database of the National Free Preconception Health Examination Project in China.

BJOG 11 : Join now to personalize. Photo credit: iStock. Risks of smoking during pregnancy What happens if you smoke in early pregnancy? What about light smoking or vaping during pregnancy? Long-term effects of smoking while pregnant How to quit smoking while pregnant Quit-smoking aids for pregnancy.

Risks of smoking during pregnancy The risks of smoking during pregnancy include serious problems for you and your baby. Smoking risks for you In addition to the usual dangers of smoking increased risk of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, lung disease, and other smoking-related illness , smoking during pregnancy also increases your chances of: Abnormal and potentially catastrophic bleeding during pregnancy and delivery due to placental problems, such as placental abruption and placenta previa.

Ectopic pregnancy. Preterm premature rupture of membranes PROM. Smoking while pregnant exposes you and your unborn child to an increased risk of health problems.

Passive smoking can also affect you and your unborn child. Australian studies showed that about 10 per cent of women smoked during pregnancy in If you smoke while pregnant you are at increased risk of a wide range of problems including miscarriage and premature labour, and you are twice as likely to give birth to a low-birth-weight baby compared to a mother who does not smoke.

Low birth weight babies are at greater risk of death and are more vulnerable to infection, breathing difficulties and long-term health problems in adulthood. The more cigarettes you smoke during your pregnancy, the greater your risk of complications and having a low-birth-weight baby.

However, there is no solid evidence that cutting down on the number or strength of cigarettes you smoke significantly reduces the risks to the fetus. Stopping smoking completely as early as possible is a much better option for the health of you and your baby. If you are pregnant, every time you smoke a cigarette, it cuts down oxygen to your unborn baby and exposes them to a cocktail of chemicals, including chemicals that cause cancer.

Over two-thirds of women who quit when they are pregnant resume smoking after their babies are born. Although smoking and breastfeeding is not ideal, it is better than smoking and not breastfeeding. Stopping smoking during breastfeeding is very worthwhile. Women who smoke are less likely to breastfeed and are more likely to wean their children earlier than mothers who do not smoke. Health effects may include:. Ideally, a pregnant woman should stop smoking. In reality, less than half of females quit when pregnancy is planned or confirmed.

If you need help to quit, see your health professional for information and advice. You can also call the Quitline Tel. Quit Specialists will provide free support during your pregnancy and for some time after to help you remain a non-smoker.

Aboriginal Quit Specialists are also available. There is evidence to suggest that stopping smoking by the fourth month of pregnancy can reduce some of the risks, such as low birth weight and premature birth. It is recommended that you first try to quit without medication.