Painful Childbirth: Australian Teenagers Make Mistake of Smoking to Reduce the Weight of their Babies

Smoking can lead to smaller babies, and this is precisely why many Australian teenagers who found themselves pregnant are puffing away.

A national anthropological study on smoking habits in Australia has revealed that young pregnant women as young as 16 began smoking as a means to control the weight of the babies they are carrying. In their fear that they might have a difficult and painful time giving birth to heavy babies, these young women began smoking as soon they learned of their pregnancy.

It has since become apparent that teenagers in Australia are taking to heart the warning on the stickers on cigarette boxes that smokers cause smaller babies. What these young women do not know that when cigarette packs warn against "smaller babies", the truth is far worse: a previous study of over 200 children in the UK has revealed that those whose mothers regularly smoked while they were pregnant had babies with smaller brains and were more prone to stress and anxiety attacks.

The study also showed that the children of smokers had smaller brains with less grey and white matter. In the meantime, because of their mothers' smoking, the babies of smokers have higher risks of being born with missing limbs and other deformities: the risk is 26 per cent higher compared to the risks of non-smokers. Babies of mothers who smoked also face a 28 per cent higher risk of getting a cleft palate; a club foot (28 per cent greater risk); and gastrointestinal defects (27 per cent higher risk). They also face getting skull defects (33 per cent higher chances) and eye defects (25 per cent greater risk).

Instead of getting their advice from cigarette boxes, teenagers should secure the advice of health professionals and an obstetrician/gynecologist so they can monitor their own health as well as the development of their unborn babies. Because of smoking, pregnant teenagers (and even adults) risk getting spontaneous abortions. If and when they succeed in carrying the bay to full term, the babies becomes more susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome.

In the meantime, as they grow older, children and adolescents who were exposed to prenatal tobacco may exhibit behavioral and cognitive problems.