Smoking can mar your baby’s health

The other day, a reader e-mailed, complaining that the way physicians and journalists go about discussing the harmful effects of smoking borders on either of two things: harassment of the smoker or psychological warfare that is meant to make the smoker jittery.

It was unprecedented, considering that it is common knowledge that smoking has never been known to benefit the body. Rather, based on decades of scientific researches and clinical observations, the conclusion has been unanimous: smoking is bad for your health.

However, if, as a smoker, you have managed to stay crisis-free, health-wise, physicians are now warning that you can determine the health status of your unborn child, not for good, but for bad.

Indeed, physicians are warning that it is not just the pregnant mother that should avoid smoking, even men are being counselled — and strongly, too — to stop smoking at least six months before they start raising a family!

Asthma and disease risks

Consultant Cardiologist, Dr. Damilola George, says the risk of asthma is very high among babies born to fathers who smoke. He warns that the longer the period the father has smoked, the more the chances are that his newborn will have asthma.

He says the respiratory tract of the unborn baby comes under assault as a result of his/her exposure to the pollutions that come from the cigarettes the father smokes.

George laments that an unborn baby can be “programmed,” long before birth, to inherit poor health that may afflict his father’s sperm due to smoking habit.

“In a branch of science called epigenetics, it is possible to see how a father’s unhealthy lifestyle is passed on to his child(ren), as well as why some children are highly disposed to ill health right from birth,” the cardiologist submits.

Mothers also affect their unborn babies’ health if they smoke during pregnancy — in fact more than fathers do.

George says if a mother lights up in the first three months (trimester) of pregnancy, she would have raised her unborn baby’s risk of developing heart-related birth defects by 20 to 70 per cent.

“For one, congenital heart defects are very common among such babies, while they may also suffer from other health issues such as cleft lip and cleft palate,” Gorge notes.

Reproductive health risk

Specialists in fertility treatment say pregnant mothers who smoke stand as guilty as the fathers who smoke, because their habit affects the unborn baby. Indeed, physicians say such a mother can unwittingly determine whether or not the child(ren) born to her would be fertile and able to procreate effortlessly later in life.

They warn that smoking during pregnancy might impair a child’s own fertility.

Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology, Oladapo Ashiru, who also specialises in human anatomy, notes that the activities of a smoker-pregnant mother can harm her child.

He warns that for one, there’s the danger of assailing your baby’s lungs with pollutants as found in cigarette.

“Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including dangerous ones such as cyanide, lead, and at least 60 carcinogenic (cancer-causing) compounds. All these toxins enter into the pregnant woman’s bloodstream which, unfortunately, is the baby’s only source of oxygen and nutrients,” he counsels.

“The nicotine, carbon monoxide and other poisons that smokers inhale from cigarettes are carried through the mother’s bloodstream directly to the unborn baby. This affects the baby’s anatomy, even before birth.

“Such mothers will discover to their eternal regrets that the male child could end up developing small testes, while he stands the risk of having low sperm count and high abnormalities in adulthood. Needless to say, this is going to have impact on his fertility when he is ready to be a father,” Ashiru warns.

Low birth weight

Paediatrician/Public Health Specialist, Dr. Rotimi Adesanya, says babies born to smoker-mothers are usually underweight. He warns that beyond having an unduly delicate baby, the newborn risks dying at birth; while s/he may also develop complications that could result in death.

He says even if the baby survives, s/he may develop serious health problems and disabilities.

A specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, Dr. Mashidat Mojeed-Bello, also warns that a baby that has low birth weight risks mental retardation, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment or vision ailments.

Again, pregnant mothers are warned to steer clear of smoking because it could have lifelong effects on the baby’s brain. “Children of pregnant smokers are especially likely to have learning disorders, behavioural problems and relatively low Intelligent Quotient,” the physicians submit.

A gynaecologist, Dr. Dolapo Craig, says for pregnant smoker-mothers, carrying a pregnancy to term might be a mirage, as she stands the risk of having a miscarriage; and even if she’s able to complete the gestation period, she still risks having a dead baby (stillbirth).

Again, when a woman smokes, she could have ectopic pregnancy — a medical emergency because it is life-threatening. When a woman is confirmed to be carrying ectopic pregnancy, the physician usually advises abortion of the foetus in order to save the mother’s life.

“In some instances of ectopic pregnancy, the fallopian tube and ovary may be damaged and will have to be removed. This will affect the opportunity to have a child of your own in future. It’s an avoidable trouble and you have no business meddling with it,” Craig enthuses.

Finally, paediatricians say up to five per cent of infant deaths could be prevented if pregnant women do not smoke.

The ball is in your court as a father or mother.