According to the American Council for Drug Education, tobacco use is responsible for more than 400,000 deaths in the United States each year. Tobacco in cigarettes, cigars, pipes and snuff, or smokeless tobacco, contains a highly addictive central nervous system stimulant called nicotine. In addition to nicotine, tobacco smoke also contains approximately 4,000 gases and particles that can affect your lungs, heart, circulatory system and general body functions. Because the nicotine, gases such as carbon monoxide and particles in tobacco absorb into your bloodstream, tobacco can also have harmful effects on a developing baby.
Stillbirth
Tobacco use during pregnancy may cause stillbirth. According to a study completed at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden between 1983 and 2001 on 526,691 women, a direct association exists between smoking during pregnancy and a higher incidence of stillborn babies. Two reasons for these results include slower fetal growth rates and increased instances of placental abruption.
Low Birth Weight
The March of Dimes defines low birth weight as less than 5 lbs. 8 oz. and states that smoking during pregnancy almost doubles the risk of low weight occurring. As low birth weight relates to tobacco use, slow fetal growth due to decreased oxygen supplies and an increased risk of delivering your baby before the 37th week of pregnancy account for the majority of occurrences, according to the March of Dimes. Complications can include respiratory distress, brain bleeds, heart problems, intestinal problems and blindness.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Sudden infant death syndrome, also called SIDS, occurs two to five times more often in babies whose mothers use tobacco during pregnancy, according to SidsCenter.org. SIDS occurs most often in babies between one month and one year of age. According to a study performed at the McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, even low to moderate tobacco use can increase the risk.
Josef Buttigieg, a Ph.D. student of biology and member of the research team, explains this increased risk as the effect nicotine has on the adrenal glands. Nicotine can directly affect the ability of cells to detect and respond to oxygen deprivation that can occur, for example, if you introduce another risk factor for SIDS, such as placing your baby face down on his bed.
Cognitive Dysfunction
Tobacco use during pregnancy can affect the cognitive and behavioral development of your baby, according to Krisa Van Meurs, M.D., of the Stanford University School of Medicine. Van Meurs states that numerous case-controlled studies show increases in attention deficit disorder, also called ADD, as well as a 50 percent increase in idiopathic mental retardation in babies whose mothers smoke during pregnancy. Idiopathic mental retardation is a condition where low IQ scores are not the result of genetics.
