RISKS FROM THE ENVIRONMENT DURING PREGNANCY

Consider potential hazards at home (eg, pets or farm animals, domestic chemicals) or at work.

ENVIRONMENT DURING PREGNANCY 

Women exposed to sheep should be warned of the risk of Chlamydophila abortus at lambing time, which can cause miscarriage or stillbirth.

Advise to wash hands after gardening and to avoid cleaning cat litter trays during pregnancy to avoid toxoplasmosis.

Advise a woman planning pregnancy to read product warnings before using chemicals.

HAPPY PREGNANCY 

Advise a woman who is planning pregnancy and is concerned about work exposure to hazardous substances, infections or radiation, to disclose her intention of becoming pregnant to her employer, if possible, so that a risk assessment may be carried out in advance of pregnancy.

Where she does not feel able to disclose her intention of becoming pregnant to her employer, she can obtain information about the risk of exposure to specific substances by contacting the Health and Safety Executive. 

SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY

Smoking during pregnancy can affect your unborn baby. There are several different problems that are included in dangers of smoking that can create problems to your unborn baby and also for you.

SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY 

Smoking in pregnancy is associated with a large number of adverse effects in pregnancy including:

1. Intrauterine growth restriction
2. Premature delivery
3. Placental problems
4. Smoking makes it harder for a woman to get pregnant.
5. Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely than other women to have a miscarriage.
6. Smoking can cause problems with the placenta - the source of the baby’s food and oxygen during pregnancy. For example, the placenta can separate from the womb too early, causing bleeding, which is dangerous to the mother and baby.
7. Pregnant couple Smoking during pregnancy can cause a baby to be born too early or to have low birth weight - making it more likely the baby will be sick and have to stay in the hospital longer. A few babies may even die.
8. Smoking during and after pregnancy is a risk factor of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS is an infant death for which a cause of the death cannot be found.
9. Babies born to women who smoke are more likely to have certain birth defects, like a cleft lip or cleft palate.

Facts

Cigarette smoke contains more than 2,500 chemicals. These chemicals affect your unborn baby but the degree to which is still not clear. Carbon monoxide and nicotine are the main causes of this. Carbon monoxide bonds with hemoglobin to form a molecule that can decrease your baby’s likelihood to obtain oxygen. Nicotine also is a cause which can cross through the placenta of the unborn baby, where it increases the level of toxicity greater that the level that you experience while smoking. The severity of smoking during pregnancy is very high and can be fatal at times.

Prenatal Smoking Causes Childhood Cancer

Unborn baby

Facts state that a woman who smokes during pregnancy has the chances of having an underweight baby and also the chances of giving birth prematurely is higher leading to other serious health problems which include cerebral palsy and mental retardation. Dangers of smoking also include the baby’s chances of having congenital heart defects.

Pregnancy complications

Pregnancy complications also may arise when woman have a smoking habit during this stage. Issues in the placenta are one of the most common pregnancy complication and also placental abruption. Smoking during pregnancy also causes premature rupture of your membranes which make your baby to be born prematurely.

Pregnancy Smoking 

Your baby after birth

Your baby has the chances of having side effects after birth if you smoke regularly during pregnancy. This includes reduced lung capacity, withdrawal symptoms and the higher chances of infant death syndrome also known as SIDS. Also woman who smokes during pregnancy, may have their babies exhibit excessive jitteriness and agitation which makes them feel harder to soothe and comfort. SIDS is three times as higher if you smoke during pregnancy.

Considerations

There also times when you think that your unborn baby can only get hurt by your direct smoking, but there is also more to it. Second hand smoke i.e.; smoke from another person’s cigarette which you inhale can also affect your unborn baby’s health massively. Your 20% more likely to give birth to a low birth weight baby even if second hand smoke is your only exposure to the harmful chemicals in smoke.

Stop Smoking and Get Happy Pregnancy