The risks of smoking are nothing new to anyone. Smoking increases the chances of several diseases and conditions, being very harmful to both smokers and those who accidentally inhale the smoke.
These risks may be even greater for pregnant women – for the health of the woman and the baby, who may be more likely to develop asthma , childhood colic and obesity .
Based on this, new research, published in the medical journal Pediatrics , showed that, in addition to these already known conditions, smoking during pregnancy can increase the baby’s chances of having sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
According to the research results, for every cigarette the mother smokes, the baby’s risk of death increases by 0.07%. If you consider how much a person can smoke, that number can increase.
For example, a pregnant woman who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day triples her baby’s risk of SIDS compared to non-smoking mothers.
What is sudden infant death syndrome?
This syndrome, also called sudden infant death syndrome, is the child’s unexpected death before one year of age, and the autopsy fails to define the cause of death.
It usually occurs during the child’s sleep, which may lead to the hypothesis that some factors such as the position at bedtime, temperature and the environment imply these deaths.
One of the risk factors that most influences the increase in these cases is smoking, so it is important that for a safer pregnancy you avoid smoking and also avoid contact with cigarette smoke.