Smoking in pregnancy

Whilst having been a smoker in your past isn’t going to affect an unborn baby now, there’s evidence that smoking even when trying to conceive can have a harmful health effect and hamper your chances of conception. Even if you couldn’t manage to give up before you got pregnant, cutting out the cigarettes now is really important for the health of your unborn baby and his future health, too.

Smoking in pregnancy

Your unborn baby relies on your blood supply to carry nutrients and oxygen for growth. When you’re smoking a cigarette, as well as starving your own system, you’re effectively passing that smoke on to the foetus inside you.

Smoking in pregnancy has been linked to incidences of miscarriage and even cot death (sudden infant death syndrome).

There's also evidence to show that your baby could suffer asthma in childhood if you smoked during pregnancy.

Additionally, smoking increases your chance of suffering from pregnancy dangers such as increased blood pressure, placental problems and bleeding.

Giving up smoking

It's no big secret that it isn’t easy to give up smoking.

Understanding more about the baby you’re carrying and the dangers you’re putting yourself and your child in can help give you the impetus you need to cut it out of your life.

If your partner or other people you live with smoke, it’s important to let them know there are real dangers from passive smoking, too. Try to get them to give up with you, or define places outside the home where they smoke away from you.

There's more support than ever before to help you give up smoking.