Let’s review some of the many problems that smoking can cause for growing families:
1. Studies have found a link between smoking and infertility.
2. If you do conceive, and you continue to smoke, the consequences become more and more devastating. During pregnancy, smoking can lead to complications such as miscarriage, low birth weight and even still birth.
3. After pregnancy, smoking continues to put infants at risk. Smoking in the home has been linked to an increased risk of SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
4. It also leads to behavioral problems in children, such as ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Now there is a new risk directly linked to smoking during pregnancy. It is thought that exposure to nicotine in the womb can negatively affect brain development and cause conditions like strabismus, which is the official term for “cross-eyes.” It turns out that smoking during pregnancy increases the child’s risk for having this problem significantly. In fact, for every additional cigarette a woman smokes per day, the risk increases by five percent, according to Dr. Tobias Torp-Pedersen of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark. Ten or more cigarettes per day increased the risk to ninety percent. The more moms smoke, the higher their risk.
Having crossed eyes is not just a cosmetic problem that leads to ridicule and embarrassment. If it is left uncorrected, it can lead to permanent vision loss. Children do not outgrow strabismus; it must be corrected through specialized therapy and/or surgery.
When you smoke, you endanger your own life. When you smoke during pregnancy, not only are you harming your own body, but you are creating serious and potentially lifelong problems for your child as well. Make every effort to quit smoking as soon as possible. With so many risks to your child, is it worth it?