Infant exposure to environmental smoking has been associated with a number of poor child health outcomes. These effects are more severe when prenatal smoking carries into the postnatal environment. The major source of infant exposure to tobacco smoke occurs from parental smoking within the home, although the lifelong effects of parental smoking on a child's health follow him everywhere.
Inability to Bond
A mother's bond with an infant provides the baby with a sense of security that can last a lifetime. Maternal smoking often causes disruptions in early maternal-infant bonding. This is due to the greater need smoke-exposed infants have for handling, external intervention and the stress this causes many mothers. Researchers at the Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventative Medicine believe further disruptions are sparked by the inability of these infants to self-soothe and be calmed.
ADHD
Nicotine passes through the placenta of a developing baby as rapidly as it is maternally consumed. A 2005 study published in the "Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice" says this increases the risk of behavioral and neurological disorders in infants, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children exposed to maternal smoking exhibit signs of ADHD from infancy into adulthood. Symptoms in infants include restlessness, irritability, the need to be constantly rocked and sleeplessness.
Reduced Lung Functions
Twenty to 30 percent of all smoke-exposed infants and toddlers experience wheezing respiratory illnesses and pneumonia. Researchers believe maternal smoking during pregnancy modifies lung development by diminishing lower airway functions. This diminished capacity increases the risk for lung infections and asthma during infancy. The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reports that smoke-exposed infants generally grow out of wheezing illnesses that are not asthma related, although lung function often remains permanently diminished.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, is the leading cause of death in American infants aged 1 month to 1 year. SIDS deaths remain highly unexplained, although exposure to secondhand smoke has been found to double an infant's risk of SIDS, potentially from nervous system damage, according to KidsHealth.org. In addition, infants of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are three times more likely to die from SIDS than infants who developed in a smoke-free environment.
References
- Science Daily; Newborns Exposed to Maternal Smoking More Irritable, Difficult to Soothe
- Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice; Thomas Parish et al; 2005
- American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine; W.J. Morgan et al; 1998
- ConsumerReports.org; Infant and Toddler Years
- KidsHealth.org; Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Tips for Reducing the Risk of SIDS
