Fortunately, many pregnant moms understand this and do quit smoking while they are pregnant.
However, about 60% of women who quit smoking during pregnancy start smoking again by the time their baby is six months old.
Although women start smoking again for many reasons, there are many more good reasons to quit, or better yet, not start smoking again. Reasons include the fact that exposure to second hand smoke is thought to increase a child's chance of ear infections, allergies, asthma, wheezing, pneumonia and frequent upper respiratory tract infections.
Smoke can also trigger asthma attacks in many children and they are often worse than in children who aren't exposed to someone who smokes.
And infants who are exposed to a caregiver that smokes or a mother who smoked while she was pregnant are up to 4 times more likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Links:
- American Lung Association - Quit Smoking - You and Your Baby
- Great American Smokeout
- About Smoking Cessation
Sources: March of Dimes. Smoking: Tips to Quit. American Academy of Pediatrics: Tobacco's toll: implications for the pediatrician. - Pediatrics - 01-Apr-2001; 107(4): 794-8.
