The experts from the University of New South Wales announced the shocking statistics. It turns out that every fifth expectant mother has the bad habit of smoking regularly, despite all the doctors’ warnings.

Fathers also treat the health of their future successors condescendingly and do not prevent pregnant mothers from smoking.

It is worth mentioning that female smokers may face the increased risk of having a child with heart disease, and the risk of the baby’s birth defects on the part of the gastric tract is three times bigger, as the scientists warn.

In addition, the toxins that cigarette smoke contains affect fertility very badly. The experts from the University of Newcastle suspect that this detrimental effect of smoking may affect more than one generation. Thus, the daughter of a non-smoking mother can have problems with fertility because of the grandmother, who was smoking…

Professor James Walker from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston once again warns pregnant women that smoking is dangerous because of such problems, as stillbirth, deformities of the baby, and premature birth.

The experts stress that expectant mothers and their families should do everything possible to give up this bad habit at least during pregnancy.

Both mother’s and father’s smoking are dangerous for the unborn child. And if you still do not believe, Geniuspregnancy offers you the top 10 scientific facts about smoking before and during pregnancy.

1. Smoking reduces fertility in both men and women. After smoking for 5 years, a woman’s ability to conceive decreases by 14%, and that of a man reduces by 11%.
2. A male body removes nicotine faster, than that of a woman – in about 3 months. If you are planning to get pregnant, you and your man should stop smoking much earlier before that.
3. The women, who smoke, have a more difficult pregnancy, than those, who have never smoked or dropped before conception. Early toxemia, preeclampsia, varicose veins, constipation, and dizziness are consequences of smoking before and during pregnancy.
4. Vitamin C destroys much faster in the body of a smoking woman, which leads to its deficit. As a result, one suffers from metabolic diseases, low immunity, depression, and fatigue.
5. The women, who are smoking in the periconceptional period, face the 8 to10 times higher risk of miscarriage.
6. In the families, where one or both parents smoke, the children are twice more likely to suffer from pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma, and 6 times more likely to have gastro-intestinal diseases.
7. Smoking constricts blood vessels and violates the process of oxygen saturation in the blood. This is especially dangerous during pregnancy, because there must be a sufficient amount of oxygen in the blood of the mother for the proper development of the fetus.
8. The girls, whose mother was smoking during pregnancy, are more likely to suffer from infertility in the future.
9. The children of the mothers, who were smoking during pregnancy, are born with low birth weight and weak lungs.
10. As a result of the study, which had been lasting for 33 years, the scientists from the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden) found that those children, whose mothers had been smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day before the birth of the child, had the risk of diabetes increased by 4.5 times. And the risk of obesity was 34-38% higher than among those children, whose mothers had not smoked. These diseases were found in adolescence. The doctors say that smoking produces a toxic influence on the fetus and causes fetal malnutrition. Therefore, the child develops a tendency to accumulate fat.

So, lighting another cigarette, remember that parental smoking during pregnancy not only affects the baby here and now, but reveals itself in the child’s adult life, causing entirely unwanted health problems.

On average, 70% teens spend a few minutes to several hours a day in social networks. At the same time, they are 5 times more likely to smoke cigarettes, three times more likely to use alcohol and 2 times more likely to smoke marijuana than the teens who do not use social networks.

The study involved 1037 adolescents aged 12-17, 528 parents, and telephone interviews with 1006 adolescents of the same age.

It was discovered that 9 out of 10 parents do not associate the time spent in social networks with the emergence of bad habits. In their turn, Facebook representatives emphasize that the resource prohibits drug promotion.

Source of the image: Photl.

The British TV channel BBC3 regularly broadcasts the program which is called Misbehaving Mums To Be. A kind of “anti-record” in popularity among all the latest participants belongs, undoubtedly, to a 20-year-old Charlie Wilcox and her baby daughter Lilly, who is only 14 weeks.

The editors of the TV program have found Charlie Wilcox in a small English town of Rainham, Kent.

The “unique” young mother told the entire country that during the first six months of pregnancy she had continued to smoke from 15 to 20 cigarettes every day, and only during the last three months she had reduced the number of cigarettes to 5 per day. However, a total number of cigarettes which had been poisoning her and the future child during the period of 9 months was more than 3,500 cigarettes.

The young mother also told that the doctors who had been watching her during the pregnancy had measured the level of carbon monoxide in her blood, as one of the combustion products of tobacco, and found that there had been 6 times more carbon monoxide in the body of the pregnant Charlie than acceptable for the normal fetal development.

However, the strange (if not to say more) mother claimed that oxygen deprivation that the body of her daughter had suffered from had a positive effect. According to Charlie, it had stimulated the heart of the baby, making it to “pump” more blood to supply the tissues with oxygen.

Charlie Wilcox, who has been smoking since 14 years, has also provided the program with an “irrefutable” argument in favor of her theory.

She said that one of her friends, who had also been smoking from school age, learned that she was pregnant and immediately gave up cigarettes. However, during the 4th month she suffered a miscarriage, as the unreasonable young mother explained the viewers.

Source of the image: Dailymail.

According to Dr. Rekha, the leader of the research, these violations may lead to the development of asthma and other respiratory system diseases that can accompany a person for the rest of his/her life.

Tertiary smoking is a relatively new term, and it includes traces of smoke which for years remain on the walls and any other surfaces in your house or your car, even if the smokers no longer live in the house and do not use the car and even gave up smoking (by the way, this can be made by means of substance abuse counseling).

So, when looking for a house for your family getting bigger, choose a new one for yours and your children’s health sake. And don’t ever let anybody smoke in your new home!

Source of the image: Photl.

The scientists advise prospective smoking fathers to think it over and to avoid smoking in the presence of a pregnant woman. Future mothers should also be aware of the potential danger caused by tobacco smoke which affects the body long before conception, and not only during pregnancy.

Dr. Jo Leonardi-Bee says that second hand smoking mothers subject their future children to a variety of risks, including fetal death, low birth weight, premature birth and serious birth defects. Second hand smoking involves the influence on the fetus of the same 4000 tobacco smoke toxins, though in lower concentration.

The researchers claim that the risk of complications is connected with the number of cigarettes smoked. Exposure to smoke from more than 10 cigarettes per day considerably increases the risk of the child’s birth defects. It is therefore very important for future fathers to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked in the presence of a mother to be, or abandon the bad habit completely.

Source of the image: Photl.

Smoking pregnant women face higher risk of preterm birth – 27 per cent. Their smoking daughters have even higher risk – 29 per cent. Furthermore, if one’s grandmother was a smoker as well, then the risk increases to 60 per cent.

By the age of ten, a baby-girl of a smoking mother will experience disastrous consequences of nicotine effect on her body. The girl’s fertility will be negatively affected as well.

Professor Golding pointed out, that non-smoking pregnant women usually experience pleasant physical and psychological state midway through the pregnancy. On the other hand, smoking pregnant women rarely experience this state. So, if you want to be happy during pregnancy, you need to refrain from smoking when planning pregnancy, the pregnancy itself, and breast feeding period.

Source of the image: Photl.

Take Folic Acid

The most important of all is that you must start taking folic acid supplements soon. Folic acid reduces the chances of neural tube defect in your baby by 50% to 70% only if you begin to take no less than 0.4 mg of folic acid every day for at least two to three months before you start making attempts to conceive. The neural tube defect could be like anencephaly or spinal bifida.

Sexual Life

You should try and make your sexual life a little more interesting by trying to make love in other rooms than your bedroom. Also, making love during odd times of the day could be really a thrilling experience.

Behavior after Sex

You must avoid running to the bathroom as soon as you make love. You should lie down for a minimum of five minutes which increases the chances of the sperm to meet your awaiting egg. This will surely help you attain a proper conception.

When is the Most Fertile Period?

Just five days after ovulation is your fertile period. So you should make love quite often in this period. If you have the resistance to make love every 48 hours, there is one guarantee that a fresh sperm will want to meet you egg.

Chances of Conceiving a Baby

Making a baby is the game of numbers. Even if you are trying to do everything right, there are chances of just 25% to 30% of conceiving in a periodic cycle.

Quit Smoking

If you are trying to conceive, and have not quit smoking yet, this is the right time. A scientific study determined that odds of a woman conceiving are reduced by 50% if she is still smoking.

Cut Down on Caffeine before Pregnancy

Caffeine is yet another enemy for your conception process. It is time you should consider the option of decaf. Caffeine hampers the developing baby’s growth by contracting blood vessels and dropping the flow of blood towards the uterus. If a woman drinks more than three cups daily, it is yet another problem that causes infertility amongst many.

Job and Health

If you or your partner is exposed to hazardous substances such as harmful chemicals, then you should think about changing your job before you begin to plan for a baby. Certain chemicals or harmful rays have an effect on the quality of sperm and the progress of the embryo.

Medical Checkup

Before jumping on the bed with your partner for having a baby, you must first visit a doctor for a preconception checkup. Let your doctor know about your medical history and your willingness to conceive and have a baby with your partner.

You need to be certain that you have been thoroughly screened for STDs. Millions of women in North America are affected by pelvic inflammatory disease every passing year. The major reason behind this is untreated sexually transmitted disease.

Taking Medications

If you are taking any sort of pills or over-the-counter drugs for anything, you need to tell you doctor about it. You doctor will certainly tell you to either stop the medication or will tell you to continue if it is safe for the baby.

Diabetics Getting Pregnant

If you are a patient of diabetes, you should make sure that your blood sugar levels are under control before you conceive. A scientific study determined that women who have badly restricted insulin-dependent diabetes are at higher risk to give birth to babies with birth defects four to six times more than a non-diabetic woman.

Healthy Diet for Getting Pregnant

If you are searching for a very good resource of folic acid, you can do it by simply having a glass of orange juice or a fresh orange. Orange is the finest source for folic acid. It is a very vital nutrient for any woman who is willing to conceive.

Learn how to make your Vagina Sperm-Friendly

1. Avoid vaginal sprays.
2. Get rid of scented tampon (these will cause pH imbalance)
3. Don’t use artificial lubricants
4. Never use vegetable oils
5. Avoid glycerin – it kills the sperm
6. No saliva – it’s another sperm killer.
7. Don’t douch right after the sexual intercourse. Douching modifies the general acidity of the vagina. Douching can also cause vaginal infections and or pelvic inflammatory disease. It can also sweep away the cervical mucus which helps the sperm to travel.

Physical Activity and Healthy Way of Life before Conception

Exercising is surely good for help, but if you overdo it, it can cause issues of fertility problems like irregular menstruations, anovulatory cycles in which ovulation is absent as well as luteal phase deficiencies. A luteal phase happens when the second half of your cycle is not lengthy enough for the proper implantation of the fertilized egg.

If your man is into too much of cycling, ask him to walk on the treadmill instead. A study conducted by the University Of California School Of Medicine proved that men who are prone to cycling more than 100kms per week are putting their fertility in danger. This happens because the groin keeps hitting the bicycle seat which can harm the essential arteries and nerves.

There is no need for you to go on a diet thinking that you will conceive a baby easily. If you start starving yourself, or are over-eating would surely affect your ovulation and in return your fertility.

If you are not physically active, consult your doctor whether you should opt for anything that would boost your stamina, develop your strength and your cardiovascular health. Don’t do anything active without the consent of your doctor.

Pregnancy and Prenatal Vitamins

If you regularly take vitamin supplements, then at times large doses of some kinds of vitamins possibly will be hazardous for your developing baby. At this point, you must change your course towards prenatal vitamin previous to you conceive.

Measuring Basal Body Temperature

If you are worrying about your basal body temperature (BBT) to keep a record of your most fertile days, you should get a hold of a digital thermometer instead of a traditional mercury one. The digital thermometer is easier to read and it beeps to remind you for recording your reading just in case you are not aware of it.

Eating, drinking and even moving out of the bed can affect your body temperature. Put a hold on these activities before you take your reading.

If you did not have enough sleep any night, you should note it down in your temperature chart. If you are not able to get sleep for at least three continuous hours, then your BBT reading can still be untrustworthy.

Sometimes, you will not be able to notice any difference in your BBT chart. This is normal for a lot of women who are regularly ovulating and there is no sudden temperature rise in their bodies after ovulation. A constant BBT throughout the menstrual cycle is perfectly normal.

Am I Pregnant?

To know you baby-making moment, here it is. The most fertile time for a woman is when the cycle is leading five days up to ovulation. If you are getting any signs of ovulation, you are at the right spot.

If your menstrual cycle is longer or shorter than 28 days, there are possibilities that you will not ovulate on day 14. The process of ovulation begins 14 days before the next menstrual cycle.

After the ovulation, you just have to patiently wait. At times, there is not sufficient human chorionic gonadotropin present in your urine for testing even after 12 days after the ovulation. Sometimes it takes a little longer time.

When Does It Make Sense to Make a Pregnancy Test?

If your period is late as compared to your natural time, you can simply note down whether your number of days since ovulation are longer than normal. If you’re results of elevated temperatures are at least 18 times in numbers, or if your temperature stays elevated for more than 3 days than your longest luteal phase to date, you can come to the conclusion that you are pregnant.

Signs of Pregnancy

Usually hCG begins to produce in the body just a week after conceiving. The combination of hCG with growing progesterone levels make the blood flow increase towards the region of your pelvis. This will make you run towards the bathroom a lot many times as your pregnancy advances.

Spotting during Pregnancy

You should not be afraid if you find some small amount of spotting on your inner wear. A lot of women undergo this implantation bleeding for nearly a week after conceiving. This is the time when the fertilized egg gets attached to the uterine wall. A lot of women commit a mistake in thinking that this is the beginning of their menstrual cycle which can cause them to panic.

Source of the image: Photl.

Studies conducted by specialists have shown that the abuse of tobacco smoke by parents have a negative effect on a child’s ability to perceive information.

For example, interviewing 23,000 students between the ages of 11 and 20, scientists discovered the following: over 30% of those who lived with at least a smoking parent identified their grade as “low”. 23% among those whose homes were lit with cigarette for at least five days a week said that their performance is worse compared with their classmates or fellow students.

However, among a group of children and adolescents whose parents smoked fewer, only 20% of respondents received bad grades. Just 17% of children of non-smoking parents complained of their grades.

Consequently, the researchers concluded that passive smoking increases the risk of bad grades from 14 to 28%. They explain this by the fact that toxic substances contained in tobacco can drastically affect the work of the child’s brain. What does this mean? That’s right, do not smoke in the presence of a child, or even better give up smoking!

Source of the image: Photl.

Archives of General Psychiatry published an article that shows that psychological issues tend to affect both smokers and non-smokers who are often exposed to nicotine fumes in a nearly equal measure.

Non-smokers that find themselves constantly exposed to secondhand smoke were found to be 62 per cent more likely to yield to psychological pressure in comparison with those who keep away from nicotine smoke.

The study further says that the chances of those individuals ending up in psychiatric hospitals for treatment of depression and substance abuse are greater by three times.

The risk of succumbing to psychological pressure grows higher with the growing amount of secondhand smoke inhaled, with the risk at its highest for smokers.

Those who never smoked are more prone to be affected by the negative effects of nicotine on their mental state than ex-smokers who are less vulnerable to its influence.

Source of the image: Photl.com.

Source of the image: flickr.com/photos/constantinb.

The risk of possible behavioral problems grows as mom’s smoking starts to interfere with the development of the unborn’s brain.

“There are four thousand toxic substances in cigarette smoke,” explains Alan Maryon-Davis, the president of the Faculty of Public Health. “Many of these will pass into the brain of the fetus and it is possible that they could have an effect on how the brain chemistry works.”

The statistics show that baby boys do get it the hard way. They are likely to develop recalcitrant behavior by 44 percent more with moms – light smokers, whereas the risk comes up to 80 percent for those boys whose mothers smoke too much.

No matter how much moms smoke, the attention deficit risk increases, and their boys are prone to developing hyperactivity.

Baby girls are also apt to develop conduct problems because of their moms’ smoking habits, but they seem to be impervious to hyperactivity and attention deficit problems.

Scientists leave no doubt as to the advisability of giving up smoking for those who care for their oncoming child’s health and behavior.

Source of the image: sxc.hu/profile/Mattox.

Researchers at the University of South California discovered that smoking during pregnancy could transform the DNA of unborn baby. The study found that maternal smoking is linked to the changes in epigenetic mechanism for DNA methylation. Epigenetic studies how chemical compounds are added to DNA and how they switch genes on and off. This causes the differences in gene expression without changing the genetic information itself. Epigenetic has played a crucial role in cancer research, but little is known how epigenetic changes occur under the influence of environmental factors.

Researches used data from USC Children’s Health Study as well as the survey on maternal smoking during pregnancy. The findings have been published in September issue of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

This study showed for the first time that the environment affects fetal growth. Such environmental exposures as tobacco smoke can trigger genetic changes.

Source of the image: sxc.hu/profile/Mattox.

Women will get ₤20 ($29) after a week off cigarettes, then ₤40 ($57) after another month and if expectant mother doesn’t smoke a whole year, she will be awarded a further ₤40 ($57). You can’t cheat NHS because each woman entitled to the incentive will have to undergo tests that could show exactly when they have smoked.

That is a great idea of NHS to ensure the good health of future babies for money. Probably, those who don’t smoke at all could also get something for being a non-smoker for their entire life?