4-D Ultrasounds Show Fetuses of Mothers Who Smoke Make More Facial Movements
A study published in late March, 2015 showed that fetuses of mothers who smoke cigarettes during pregnancy had more facial and self-touching movements, such as opening their mouths, sucking their hands, grimacing, and touching their heads and eyes with their hands.
Researchers from Durham and Lancaster Universities in England, who conducted the study, point that this greater-than-usual number of movements around the face may indicate that the babies’ central nervous systems are developing more slowly.
In babies of mothers who do not smoke during pregnancy, such movements are seen more in younger fetuses; but as a pregnancy progresses, and the babies’ nervous systems become more developed, giving the infants better control, these movements occur less frequently.
The central nervous system controls all body movements, including facial movements. The study’s authors theorize that the increased number of facial movements in latter pregnancy stages in mothers who smoke may indicate that their babies’ nervous systems are developing differently.
The researchers based their conclusions on analysis of 80 4-D, high-definition ultrasound scans of 20 healthy fetuses; four of these babies were being carried by mothers who smoked an average of 14 cigarettes a day; the other 16 infants were being carried by non-smokers. The scans were taken at four different times between 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.
Study co-author Brian Francis, a professor at Lancaster University, said in a news release that the results of the study are additional proof of the “negative effects” of smoking during pregnancy. The researchers hoped that the study would give mothers-to-be an additional incentive not to smoke during pregnancy.
Study results were published in the journal Acta Paediatrica.
In England, 12 percent of pregnant women smoked cigarettes in 2014 (source: Health & Social Care Information Centre), continuing a downward trend in recent years. However, the rate was 20 percent in the Durham, Darlington and Tees areas where the study participants lived.
In the United States, online numbers state that 9 percent of pregnant women smoked in 2013 (source: Child Trends), continuing a downward trend from 20 percent in 1989. However, percentages vary widely in the U.S., based on race/ethnicity and maternal education.
Cigarette-Smoking Can Seriously Harm Fertility, Pregnancy and the Health of Mother and Child
Scientists continue to discover just how damaging cigarette-smoking can be to the health of smokers, fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and the health of children while in the womb and in subsequent years.
Smoking reduces sperm count and damages egg quality, making it harder for a woman to become pregnant; recent research shows that it also undermines the ability of a fertilized egg to implant on the lining of the uterus. In addition, smoking increases the risk of miscarriage.
Smoking cigarettes can cause the baby to be born prematurely, require birth by caesarean section, have low birth weight, be stillborn, or be at greater risk of dying after birth. Smoking during or after pregnancy are both associated with a higher incidence of death from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). SIDS is the term used when an infant dies from a cause that cannot be determined.
Because smoking reduces oxygen and nutrient flow to all tissues of the mother’s and fetus’s bodies, it decreases the placenta’s ability to remain attached to the uterine wall, as it needs to be until after the baby is born, to continually supply the infant with oxygen and nutrients. The condition of the placenta separating (partially or entirely) from the uterus is called placental abruption, and it can lead to severe bleeding that puts the life of the mother in danger and may require the baby to be born immediately by caesarean, even if the due date is still some time away.
Smoking during pregnancy may also cause the placenta to attach near the cervical opening, instead of towards the top of the uterus. This may lead to additional difficulty and complications during childbirth.
Smoking in pregnancy is also known to produce certain birth defects, including cleft lip, cleft palate, a higher risk of gastrointestinal organ defects, and idiopathic (of unknown cause) scoliosis in adolescent children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy.
So harmful is cigarette smoke to an unborn infant that chronic exposure to even secondhand smoke during pregnancy carries a greater risk of the baby being born with low birth weight.
In addition, children whose mothers (and possibly grandmothers, also) smoked during pregnancy are more prone to develop asthma (source: childtrends.org).
Studies have shown that smoking during pregnancy is also linked to behavior problems in the child, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and with substance abuse when the child grows up. (Source: childtrends.org.)
Quitting Smoking Before or During Pregnancy
Quitting smoking will not only make you feel healthier, it will be far better for your baby, should you become pregnant.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, your baby will get more oxygen after even just one day of not smoking. By giving up smoking, you will improve your chances that your baby will be carried to full term, and reduce the likelihood that your newborn will have to stay at the hospital after he or she is born.
In addition, you will be cutting your chances of getting heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases that are common among smokers. Smoking is the most preventable cause of early death in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.
For help with quitting smoking, talk to your health care provider, or call the American Lung Association HelpLine at 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872). (The HelpLine also offers assistance in Spanish.)
By Cynthia Sanchez. A graduate of the University of Washington, Cynthia has extensive experience writing about health and wellness topics for different media.