If You Smoke, Your Baby Smokes Too

One of the most important things that you can do for the health of your baby is to not smoke and to not let yourself or your baby be around smoke. Nicotine, even from e-cigarettes, and tobacco smoke are very harmful for a baby’s developing brain and lungs. Babies exposed to tobacco smoke before birth have an increased risk of crib death (SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome), wheezing, poorly controlled asthma, attention deficit disorder and learning problems. Tobacco dependence can be a very severe addiction and while some people can get through the withdrawal without medicine, most people cannot. When the withdrawal is well controlled it can be easy for an individual to not smoke. When the withdrawal is not well controlled the nicotine takes over your brain and makes you smoke. So, what does that mean exactly? When nicotine withdrawal is not well controlled you can feel irritable, anxious, depressed and have a hard time concentrating. When the withdrawal is controlled you can feel normal and less-anxious when not smoking. When you are pregnant, the best thing you can do for you and your baby is to stop smoking – or better yet, stop smoking before you get pregnant. If you are pregnant, continued tobacco use is the worst thing that you can do for your baby. There are good treatments for tobacco dependence that are a lot better for you and your baby than continued smoking. The first line treatment for a pregnant woman would be a medication called bupropion (brand names of Wellbutrin and Zyban). This medication is available as a prescription from your doctor. If this medication is not enough to feel comfortable when not smoking (or if it is not tolerated), nicotine replacement therapy can be added. Nicotine replacement includes the nicotine patch, gum, and lozenge – which are available over the counter. By prescription is the nicotine nasal spray and nicotine inhaler. Although nicotine can be harmful to the baby, tobacco is the most toxic and harmful way to deliver nicotine. If you cannot stop smoking without it, use of nicotine replacement can substantially reduce the harm to your baby. I do not recommend the e-cigarette, as they are completely unregulated and have never been shown to be safe or effective for tobacco dependence treatment. Carcinogenic and toxic chemicals have been found in most of the e-cigarettes studied. View my previous blog on e-cigarettes for more information. Many women who stopped smoking during pregnancy, have a hard time staying a non-smoker after the birth of their baby – even if they were able to stop during pregnancy without medicine. If you need it, don’t hesitate to ask your doctor for tobacco dependence treatment medicines after your baby is born.   Staying tobacco free is one of the best things you can do for your health and for the health of your beautiful new baby. You can also talk to your doctor about tobacco dependence treatment. For free help and counseling call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (the National Smoker’s Helpline).