News Moms Need

So why do women still smoke? Smoking at some point during pregnancy varies widely, from 10% in Canada to 23% in the U.S. and 30% in Spain, according to the March of Dimes 2012 Premature Birth Report Card. Those are huge numbers, which may reflect how hard it is to quit. And since smoking nearly doubles a woman’s risk of having a premature baby, we need everyone’s efforts to help women quit.

Not only is smoking harmful to Mom, it’s also harmful to your baby during pregnancy. When you smoke during pregnancy, your baby is exposed to dangerous chemicals like nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar. These chemicals can lessen the amount of oxygen that your baby gets and oxygen is very important for helping your baby grow healthy. Smoking can also damage your baby’s lungs.

Babies born to women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to be born prematurely, with birth defects such as cleft lip or palate, and at low birthweight. Babies born prematurely and at low birthweight are at risk of other serious health problems, including lifelong disabilities (such as cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities and learning problems), and in some cases, death.

Secondhand and thirdhand smoke are proven to be bad for babies’ health. All the more reason for both Moms and Dads to quit. With counseling and social support, smoking cessation programs have yielded a significant reduction in preterm birth.

Want help quitting? Try http://smokefree.gov/.

Nine months of a healthy pregnancy is the best gift you can give your future baby. There are things you can do before you get pregnant to help give your baby a better chance of a healthy and full-term birth. Talk to your health care provider before and during pregnancy about you and your partners’ health and any concerns you many have. This will help you have a healthy baby.

Before getting pregnant, ask your health provider these 9 questions.

What do I need to know about:
1. Diabetes, high blood pressure, infections or other health problems?
2. Medicines or home remedies?
3. Taking a multivitamin pill with folic acid in it each day?
4. Getting to a healthy weight before pregnancy?
5. Smoking, drinking alcohol and taking illegal drugs?
6. Unsafe chemicals or other things I should stay away from at home or at work?
7. Taking care of myself and lowering my stress?
8. How long to wait between pregnancies? (Ask your health care provider what’s best for you.)
9. My family history, including premature birth? Premature birth is when your baby is born too early, before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy.

Special thanks to the celebrities Thalia and Heather Headley for helping the March of Dimes tell women about these 9 important questions.

About 1 out of every 3 children lives in a home where someone smokes regularly. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk of lots of problems like sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), ear infections, colds, pneumonia, bronchitis, severe asthma, headaches, sore throats, dizziness, nausea, lack of energy, and fussiness. And the younger the child, the greater the risk is.

Secondhand smoke is made up of two things:
• The smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar
• The smoke exhaled by the smoker
Secondhand smoke is also called passive or involuntary smoking. It contains over 250 harmful chemicals; about 50 of these can cause cancer.

What you can do to protect your child from secondhand smoke:
• If you or someone in your house smokes, stop! Talk to your employer or health care provider; they can refer you to a low-cost program that will help you quit.
• Visit the Web site smokefree.gov for tips and tools to help you quit.
• If you smoke and plan to breastfeed your baby, stop smoking. Breastmilk from women who smoke contains chemicals that are dangerous to babies.
• Don’t let anyone smoke in your home or your car, especially when children are present.
• Remove ashtrays from your house. They can encourage people to light up.
• Store matches and lighters out of the reach of children.
• When choosing a baby-sitter or child care worker, be sure he or she does not smoke around your child.
• When you’re in public with your baby, ask others not to smoke around you and your child.
• Don’t go to restaurants that allow smoking.

For more information, read “How can secondhand smoke harm my child?” from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

To dispel any uncertainty about the serious harm caused by smoking to babies and pregnant women, the first-ever comprehensive systematic review of all studies over the past 50 years has established clearly that maternal smoking causes a range of serious birth defects including heart defects, missing/deformed limbs, clubfoot, gastrointestinal disorders, and facial disorders (for example, of the eyes and cleft lip/palate).
 
Smoking during pregnancy is also a risk factor for premature birth, says Dr. Michael Katz, senior Vice President for Research and Global Programs of the March of Dimes. He says the March of Dimes urges all women planning a pregnancy or who are pregnant to quit smoking now to reduce their chance of having a baby born prematurely or with a serious birth defect. Babies who survive being born prematurely and at low birthweight are at risk of other serious health problems, Dr. Katz notes, including lifelong disabilities such as cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities and learning problems. Smoking also can make it harder to get pregnant, and increases the risk of stillbirth.

Around the world, about 250 million women use tobacco every day and this number is increasing rapidly, according to data presented at the 2009 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Mumbai.

The new study, “Maternal smoking in pregnancy and birth defects: a systematic review based on 173,687 malformed cases and 11.7 million controls,” by a team led by Allan Hackshaw, Cancer Research UK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre, University College London, was published online today in Human Reproduction Update from the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

When women smoke during pregnancy, the unborn baby is exposed to dangerous chemicals like nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar, Dr. Katz says. These chemicals can deprive the baby of oxygen needed for healthy growth and development.

During pregnancy, smoking can cause problems for a woman’s own health, including: ectopic pregnancy; vaginal bleeding; placental abruption, in which the placenta peels away, partially or almost completely, from the uterine wall before delivery; placenta previa, a low-lying placenta that covers part or all of the opening of the uterus. 

Smoking is also known to cause cancer, heart disease, stroke, gum disease and eye diseases that can lead to blindness.

We all know that smoking isn’t good for us, but it’s hard to quit. There is growing evidence linking mom’s cigarette smoking during the first trimester with the occurrence of some birth defects. In the past we learned that smoking during pregnancy may increase the risk of a developing baby having a cleft lip or palate. A new study finds it might also increase the risk of the baby having a heart defect.

When you smoke during pregnancy, your baby is exposed to dangerous chemicals like nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar. These chemicals can lessen the amount of oxygen that your baby gets. Oxygen is very important for helping your baby grow healthy. Smoking can also damage your baby’s lungs. 

The findings from a new study out of Baltimore are in line with findings from previous studies, including those from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, suggesting that maternal cigarette smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy might be a modest risk factor for certain heart defects. 

Congenital heart defects are conditions present at birth that decrease the ability of the heart to work well, which can result in an increased likelihood of death or long-term disabilities. They affect nearly 40,000 infants in the United States every year.

We know quitting smoking can be hard, really hard, but it is one of the best ways a woman can protect herself and her baby’s health. Quitting smoking before getting pregnant is best. But for a woman who is already pregnant, quitting as early as possible can still help protect against some health problems for the baby, such as low birthweight. Whatever you can do to limit the amount of smoke you and you’re your baby are exposed to is fabulous.  Need help? Call this free number: 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).

I was reminded today that it is healthy heart month.  Since pregnancy puts a fair amount of physical stress on a woman, I thought it a good time to mention taking care of your ticker before you conceive.  I’m not thinking about having a baby (not at my age!), but it’s a good reminder for me, too.  Here are some things each of us can do to help improve our heart health. 

Stop smoking – Even if you do smoke, you’ve got to know it’s not good for you.  But did you know smoking may make it harder for you to get pregnant? And if you smoke while you’re pregnant, your baby is at greater risk for being born prematurely or too small?  

Have your doc check your blood pressure and cholesterol levels.  If they test high, take steps to bring them down.  Most health care providers want your BP to be at or below 120/80 and total cholesterol to be below 200.

If you have a family history of diabetes, get your blood sugar checked.  Make sure you get into a program to help keep it in control before and during pregnancy.

Eat right - Eat foods from each of the five food groups: fruits, vegetables, proteins (like chicken, fish and dried beans), grains, and milk products. Easy does it on salt and avoid foods high in fat and sugar.

Get to a good weight – If you’re not at your ideal weight (too many holiday treats?) knock off a few pounds, or gain ‘em if you need ‘em.  Exercise regularly and get fit. Exercising for 30 minutes on all or most days of the week is a good way to help maintain or lose weight, build fitness and reduce stress.

Reduce your daily stress - Pregnancy is a stressful time for many women. You may be feeling happy, sad and scared—all at the same time. It’s okay to feel like that, but doing what you can to reduce stress before pregnancy can help you better manage extra stress associated with pregnancy.  And if you’re not considering pregnancy, reducing stress can improve your quality of life in general.  Sounds good to me!

New Year’s is a time for reflecting on the past, and more importantly, looking forward to the coming year. For some, it’s about making a fresh start. It’s a time to think about the changes we want or need to make. Change is never easy. Whether it’s loosing weight, eating healthier, or quitting smoking, here are some tips for following through on those resolutions.

Be realistic by setting achievable goals. Winning the lottery, for example, is out of your hands. Instead, give to others. Be a better neighbor or volunteer at a local charity.

Describe your resolutions in specific terms. Instead of “I don’t want to be lazy,” opt for “I want to exercise regularly” or “I will cut back on watching TV.”

Break down large goals into smaller ones. For instance, commit to losing weight by resolving to join a gym and improve your eating habits. Buddy up with friends for support.

Find alternatives to a behavior that you want to change, and make this part of your resolution plan. You want to quit smoking, but you smoked to relax yourself. What other forms of relaxation are available to you? Talk to your health care provider about it, too.

Above all, aim for things that are truly important to you, not what you think you ought to do or what others expect of you. This is especially important if you want the change to last over time. Do it for you. You’re worth it.

Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), some pills that can help people stop smoking may increase a person’s risk of serious psychiatic problems. The names of these products include Chantix, Zyban, Wellbutrin, varenicline and buproprion.

People who take the drugs may be at increased risk of suicide. They may also show behavior changes such as hostility, agitation and depression.

If you are taking any of these medications, contact your health care provider. Quitting smoking is important and can have major health benefits. So you and your provider need to carefully weigh the risks and benefits of using these drugs. For more information, read the FDA news release.

People who don’t want to stop smoking may change their minds when they learn the habit can harm their pets. This is what Michigan researchers recently learned from a survey they conducted. 

Secondhand smoke can lead to cancer in cats and dogs. Birds, too, can have health problems.

And we already know that smoking can harm our children, other family members, our friends and ourselves.  

So if people aren’t worried about getting cancer, heart disease or emphysema themselves, they may quit to help their animals or people they love. If Fido can help someone stop, great! Whatever works.

You already know that pregnant women shouldn’t smoke, and parents should avoid smoking around their children. Smoking and Pregnancy from the March of Dimes lists resources that can help you or someone you know quit.

What has helped you or someone you know to stop smoking?

There are things you can do, before you get pregnant, to help give your baby a better chance of a healthy and full-term birth. See your health care provider before pregnancy and ask about the following topics.

What do I need to know about…

1. Diabetes, high blood pressure, infections or other health problems?
2. Medicines or home remedies?
3. Taking a multivitamin pill with folic acid in it each day? 
4. Getting to a healthy weight before pregnancy?
5. Smoking, drinking alcohol and taking illegal drugs?
6. Unsafe chemicals or other things I should stay away from at home or at work?
7. Taking care of myself and lowering my stress? 
8. How long to wait between pregnancies?
9. My family history, including premature birth?