The MAJORITY needs to be educated on the dangers of tobacco.....
FOR YOUR HEALTH - AND THE HEALTH OF THOSE YOU LOVE!!
Pregnancy & Smoking
The benefits of quitting smoking before and during pregnancy.
For more information, check out: http://www.helppregnantsmokersquit.org/
For your baby:
* Increases the amount of oxygen your baby will get.
* Increases the chances your baby's lungs will work well.
* Lowers the risk that your baby will be born too early.
* Increases your chances of having a normal-weight, healthy baby.
* Increases the chances your baby will come home from the hospital with you.
For you:
* Gives you more energy and helps you breathe easier.
* Saves you money that you can spend on other things.
* Makes your clothes, hair, and home smell better.
* Makes your food taste better.
* Lets you feel good about what you've done for yourself and your baby.
Facts about Quitting During Pregnancy:
* Many pregnant women are tempted to cut down the number of cigarettes they smoke instead of quitting. Cutting down to less than 5 cigarettes a day can reduce risk, but quitting is the best thing you can do for you and your baby.
* It's never too late to quit smoking during your pregnancy.
* After just one day of not smoking, your baby will get more oxygen. Each day that you don't smoke, you are helping your baby grow.
* During the first few weeks after quitting, cravings and withdrawal symptoms may be strongest. You can reduce the length of each craving for a cigarette by distracting yourself (keep your hands, mouth, and mind busy).
* Withdrawal symptoms are often signs that your body is healing. They are normal, temporary, and will lessen in a couple of weeks.
* Weight gain during pregnancy is normal. If you are worried about gaining weight when you quit smoking, now is an ideal time to quit. The weight you gain is far less harmful than the risk you take by smoking.
Facts About Smoking and Pregnancy
* Between 12 and 20 percent of all pregnant women smoke.
* Rates of smoking during pregnancy are at least 12 times higher among women with nine to 11 years of education (25 percent) than among women who hold a college degree (two percent).
* Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to 10 percent of all infant deaths.
* Smoking during pregnancy may impair normal fetal brain and nervous system development.
* The direct medical costs of a complicated birth are 66 percent higher for smokers than for non-smokers, reflecting the greater severity of complications and the more intensive care that is required.
* Reducing smoking prevalence by one percentage point would prevent 1,300 low birth- weight babies and save $21 million in direct medical costs in the first year. Over a seven year period, this means the prevention of 57,200 low birth-weight babies and savings of $572 million in direct medical costs.
* Babies whose mothers smoked during their pregnancy are more likely to die from
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) than those whose mothers did not smoke.
* Women who smoke can have a difficult time becoming pregnant.
* Parents who smoke make their children more vulnerable to respiratory illness, middle ear infections, and impaired lung function.
* 27 percent of U.S. children aged 6 years and under live with a parent or other family member who smokes; the annual direct medical costs associated with this exposure to parental smoking is estimated at $4.6 billion.