According to an obstetric clinic in California, 31.7% of pregnant women smoke. Pregnant women who smoke most often develop the following diseases:

1. spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) (the risk of losing a child directly depends on the number of cigarettes smoked),
2. placenta previa (in women who smoke, the risk of placenta previa increases by 25% – from one smoked pack, and by 90% – in heavy smokers),
3. premature rupture of amniotic fluid,
4. premature abruption of the placenta (the risk of abruption increases by 25% in those who smoke one pack a day and by 65% in heavy smokers),
5. intrauterine developmental delay (IUGR) (occurs most often and develops in the early stages of pregnancy).

What effect does smoking have on the fetus? Now consider:

1. When smoking, vitamins B and C and folic acid are absorbed, the lack of which leads to defects in the central nervous system;
2. Decreased fetal weight (on average by 200 grams). There is a direct dependence on the number of cigarettes smoked and the weight that the fetus will lose;
3. Children born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy had a reduced IQ (reading disorders are common);
4. Oxygen starvation of the fetus, as a result, a delay in its intrauterine development begins, which leads to poor health of the unborn baby. These children are more likely to have respiratory problems. In the early stages of life, repeated inhalation of tobacco smoke in such newborns may stop breathing.
5. The chances of preterm birth increase by 2 times;
6. The appearance of cancerous tumors in the fetus;
7. Physical and mental abnormalities;
8. A woman who smokes can become allergic and pass this tendency on to her unborn child (the most common are food allergies, pollen, bronchial asthma);
9. Reduced lung function in a child (underdeveloped lungs);
10. Decreased immunity;
11. Decreased growth and weight of the fetus;
12. Congenital defects of the brain, heart
13. Risk of sudden neonatal death syndrome (SIDS). It has been proven that smoking increases the risk of SIDS by 2.5 times.

Smoking increases the perinatal mortality rate by 27%. It is known that in pregnant women who smoked one pack of cigarettes per day, the infant mortality rate increased by 20%, and in those who smoked more than one pack – by 35%.

A woman who smokes 20 cigarettes a day inhales tobacco smoke more than 11 thousand times during the entire period of bearing a child.