Does Smoking Cause Birth Defects?

Smoking which affects one’s own health also severely impacts the offsprings. Parents who smoke should be aware that along with harming themselves they are causing birth defects to their babies. To know more about smoking and birth defects, read the following article.

Birth Defects

Birth defects are physical abnormalities or defects present in a baby at birth. The common birth defects are:

Smoking and Birth Defects

Babies born to parents who smoke have a higher risk of having some kinds of birth defects. Although mother’s smoking is the primary cause of all kinds of birth defects, a father who smokes is equally responsible for the baby’s birth defects. This is so because fathers harm their offspring long before they may even meet their future partner.

Tobacco smoke contains carbon monoxide and nicotine, which when released interferes and lowers the oxygen that gets delivered to the cells of the fetus. If cells are deprived of oxygen, they do not grow and multiply. When they do not proliferate, birth defects occur.

Statistics

Numerous studies reveal that babies whose parents smoke are at great risk of developing cleft lip and/or palate.

Women who smoke during pregnancy are at a risk (1.5 to 2 times) of having babies with oral clefts. The risk compounds as they increase their cigarette intake.

1 in 7 babies who carry a cleft-susceptibility gene are 8 times more likely to have oral clefts whose mothers smoke. But babies born to non-smoking mothers are at no greater risk.

Non-smoking mothers exposed to secondhand smoking have only a small increased risk.

The risk of oral clefts increased when both the parents smoke.

The development of the child does not happen at conception; rather, it happens years before. So, smokers should be cautious that they are not only affecting their own health, but they are also impacting the health of their offspring. So, health experts advise to give up smoking to prevent the offspring from birth defects.

One Response to “Does Smoking Cause Birth Defects?”

  1. kimberly Says:
    January 28th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    i am trying to get pregnant but my partner is a heavy smoker is a heavy beer drinker. what are the risks to the unborn baby or will it be ok?

Leave a Reply