By PCRM
Smoking during pregnancy can harm a baby physically and intellectually. Studies from as long ago as the 1950s showed that a child exposed to tobacco smoke in the womb will end up half an inch shorter and three to five months slower intellectually compared to other children. 1 Cancer-causing chemicals from tobacco smoke are passed on to developing human fetuses, 2 and nicotine itself is also harmful to a developing baby. Pregnant women should not smoke or use nicotine gum or patches.
Despite all the data available, as many as 25 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. continue to smoke. Quitting smoking is not easy, and most people need some help in kicking the habit. Several sources of support can be found on the Internet. You will also want to seek additional support in your local communities, but this is a great place to start.
www.silkquit.org , has many good resources and the most popular chat room for quitting smokers.
www.quitnet.org has many resources on kicking the smoking habit, including another non-smoking chat room (the ?no-smoke café?).
Another excellent site for those wanting to quit is www.chriscor.com/morequit.htm , which has lots of useful information and another chat room.
The following Newsgroups are also great sources of support and useful advice from others who have quit or are struggling to get away from nicotine:
Note: Clicking on these links will take you to the Newsgroups on the Web via Deja News, but if you have a usenet reader (most browsers have one), you can access these Newsgroups directly.
If you are a smoker, you?ll want to quit now, especially if you are pregnant! Talk to your doctor about counseling programs and take advantage of the above resources to help you make this important step for your baby?s health and your own.
References
1. Butler NR, Goldstein H. Smoking in pregnancy and subsequent child development. Br Med J 1973;4:73-5.
2. Associated Press Report, 08/23/98, Carcinogen found in smokers? babies.
C 2003
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, all rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission.
PRINT ARTICLE
