Pregnancy and Smoking
Women smokers who are pregnant run a greater risk of pregnancy complications, pre-term delivery, miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant death. Smoking can result in low birth-weight as babies born to smokers are on average 7 ounces lighter than those of non-smokers. If a women smokes while pregnant she is thought to have a 33% higher chance of losing her baby before or just after its birth. Even after a child is born, smoking by a parent increases the chances of sudden infant death syndrome, infant and perinatal deaths, learning disorders and attention deficit disorder in young children.
Women who are pregnant, or are intending to become pregnant, generally should not use Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) because of the damage that nicotine can do to the foetus. Women who are breast-feeding should not use NRT because the nicotine that passes into the system can easily enter the breast milk.