Rise in teens smoking to have smaller babies

A recent survey has found these shocking results.

The results of these surveys are absolutely heart breaking. When I found out I was pregnant, I quit smoking there and then, yes it was difficult but I didn’t want to risk my child’s health. Whether you choose to smoke during pregnancy or not, that is your choice BUT when you choose to smoke to purposely make your baby smaller I think it is absolutely disgusting.

I try and keep my opinions to myself when writing posts as I don’t want to offend anyone but when you CHOOSE to take up smoking to PURPOSELY make your child small, I think it is a disgrace.

I don’t think the blame lies with ‘teenage-parents’ themselves as most of them do a great job. I was a teenage parent, I had my first child at 17! I wouldn’t change it for the world and I think it is the very small minority of bad teenage parents that give us fantastic teenage-parents a bad name.

Research has now shown girls as young as 16 are taking the extreme measures to try and control their labour despite the potentially fatal effect it could have on their child, according to news.com.au.

The findings of a 10-year national study shows pregnancy smoking has been a longstanding issue among teenagers in Britain and abroad.

Associate professor Simone Dennis, from the Australian National University, said: “Shockingly, expectant teens are more fearful of labour and having a large child rather than the health complications caused by cigarettes including higher stillbirth rates and increased risk of childhood asthma and allergies. They had read on packets that smoking can reduce the birth weight of your baby, which is obviously not how the public health message is intended to be taken. They were scared because they were small themselves so the worst thing that could happen to them was to have an enormous baby. Some were young, 16 or 17 years, and their overriding fear was ‘Oh my God, I’m going to have an enormous child’, so they were actively using cigarettes to medicate against that. Some had even taken it up for the first time for that very reason, and some smoked harder, hoping the promise on the packet would come true. If you smoked more, you could make it better. I was really struck by that.”

Some young women who found out they were having a girl, want to make sure she is little because they believe that small girls are cute.

Tobacco causes long-term damage to the lungs, brain and blood of an unborn child and can cause pregnancy emergencies in the mother, by reducing the amount of essential oxygen and nutrients an unborn baby needs for healthy physical and mental development.

The effects of maternal smoking also include an increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth.

In addition, smoking while you are pregnant also increases the risk of cot death by at least 25 per cent.

Another thing the young expectant mums aren’t considering is the further impact that a low birth weight would have on their children as time moves forward.

For example, a recent study found the more heavily a mum smoked during her pregnancy, the greater the risk of her child being overweight right into adulthood.