Geri Halliwell, once of the Spice Girls, threw a birthday party for her daughter, Bluebell this week. The tabloids in her native UK were predictably hiding in the bushes outside her home to see if any of the other Spice Girls were invited – Emma Bunton and Melanie Chisholm, Baby Spice and Sporty Spice – both arrived with their own babies.

Emma Bunton and her 19-month-old handsome boy, Beau Lee (good thing her son is a cutie with a name like that!) arrived, bedecked in designer wear, hyper high heels and skinny jeans. If your thighs allow it, you wear the heck out of skinny jeans. But high heels? How does she run around after the kid in those? She looks very balanced in the things though, maybe she’s so used to them she’s playing in the sandbox in her stilettos just like we do in our flip flops.

Melanie Chisholm was another story. Her daughter Scarlett is three months old and Mel C arrived in the kind of clothes moms of three-months-old wear. Like, not skinny jeans.  One British newspaper snidely remarked that she “had the slightly dazed look of the brand new mum as she arrived in a pair of baggy trousers and ill-fitting pink top. Well, at least she made it out of her pyjamas”. Meeee-ow. She’s probably been bonding with her daughter instead of flitting around designer stores.

Do you think the media is too harsh on celebrity moms who behave like normal moms? Like the ones who are not back to size zero and immaculate hair and makeup the week after the birth?

Then the day after, Geri was photographed walking with her daughter in a stroller and smoking a cigarette. If she smokes, it’s her right to do so, cough, cough, but should she be doing it with her daughter presents?

And do you – or would you – wear high heels when you are looking after your baby?

It seems that there is no end to the adverse health effects of cigarette smoke, especially on children. Just a few days ago, I posted on the behavioral effects of passive smoking on young children with asthma.

Another recent study reports that behavioral problems caused by smoking starts even earlier than previously thought – in the uterus. Previous studies showed that smoking during pregnancy can lead to low birth weight and fetal defects. Now comes this additional risk – violent behavior. The findings were based on data from the Quebec Longitudinal Study and looked at 1,745 preschoolers aged 18 months to three and a half years old. Moms who are heavy smokers, who are younger than 21 and who coerce their kids to behave have a 40% risk of having aggressive children, “aggressive behavior” being defined as hitting, biting, kicking, fighting and bullying others.

Aside from maternal smoking, another parental factor that leads to aggressive behavior in young children are  anti-social behavior of the mother as well as lower socio-economic status. Maternal smoking seems to have an aggravating effect on these factors.

A common complaint nowadays is that we live in a very violent society. A common explanation for violent behavior in children and adolescents is TV, the Internet and video games. It looks like parental factors, especially smoking, should also take some of the blame.

We are exposed to a lot of environmental pollutants everyday. And during pregnancy, the fetus is also exposed to the mother’s environment even if only indirectly. Sometimes fetal exposure can result in congenital defects. Others may only manifest later in life. It is therefore very important that the effects of exposure be detected as early as possible.

This question was addressed by this recent study at the Johns Hopkins University by looking at biomarkers in umbilical cord blood in relation to one of the most common pollutants a fetus is exposed to – cigarette smoke.

The researchers studied the differences between the proteins of two sets of newborn babies. One group of babies were born to smoking moms, the other to non-smoking moms. The blood samples were collected from the umbilical cords right after delivery and immediately processed in the lab. The researchers screened for over 200 proteins in the samples. Their results how that

• The same proteins were present in both groups; no unique proteins as a consequence of maternal smoking were detected.
• There were differences in protein levels between the 2 groups. The levels of 17 proteins were observed to be higher or lower in the smoking group. Of these 17, 14 have already been previously identified as associated with cigarette smoking even in adults. These proteins play key roles in important processes and pathways in the body, so that deviation of their levels from the normal may have major health effects.

The study demonstrated that looking at biomarkers in the umbilical cord blood of newborn babies may give information on fetal exposure to potentially toxic chemicals.

Click here for more information on Cordblood and Cordblood Banking.

More and more evidence is showing up as to how Mommy`s smoking habits affect Baby. This latest report hits where it hurts ? Baby`s heart.

American researchers found evidence that there is a link between smoking DURING and even BEFORE the first trimester of pregnancy and congenital heart defects. These heart defects are affecting 10 out of every 1000 American babies and babies of smoking moms.

The study classified 7000 mommies based on their smoking habits as follows:

? Non-smokers

? Light smokers (14 cigarettes a day max)

? Moderate smokers (15-24 cigarettes a day)

? Heavy smokers (25 or more cigarettes per day).

Based on these categories, the incidence of heart defects in the babies was then checked.
Results: Heavy smokers have double the risk of having babies with a hole in the septum dividing the left and right heart chambers, moderate smokers have 50% higher likelihood and light smokers have 44% higher likelihood compared to non-smoking mommies.

Other types of heart defects also occur more frequently in babies of smoking moms than in those of non-smoking moms.

So if you are thinking of getting pregnant, please avoid cigarettes. It`s baby`s heart that is at stake.

Sources:

WedMD 7 April 2008

Malik et al. Maternal Smoking and Congenital Heart Defects. PEDIATRICS Vol. 121 No. 4 April 2008, pp. e810-e816.

Related Posts:

More Reasons To Quit Smoking: An Easy-going Baby

Breastfeeding mom smokes = baby sleeps badly

The Use of Smoking Cessation Medications during Pregnancy

How Smoking Increases SIDS Risk

We all know the adverse effects of smoking to the unborn baby. Many smokers out there really try their best to cut down on smoking during pregnancy. Many manage to do it but there are also many who are helpless against the addictive effects of nicotine and can`t therefore quit.

Different smoking cessation medications are currently available on the market. Examples are nicotine replacements such as nicotine patch, nicotine gum and the antidepressant and smoking cessation aid buproprion.

A recent study did a survey of the incidence of use of these medications in 296 pregnant women. The results are as follows:

* 10% of women surveyed used smoking cessation medication during pregnancy. 7.4% used nicotine replacement, 3.4% used buproprion.

* 14.3% also used these medications 3 months after delivery, probably while breastfeeding.
Women who used cessation medications tended to be older, have higher education, have had a previous birth and have discussed the issue with their obstetrician.

Very little research has been done on the side effects of these medications on the fetus. However, there seems to be a general feeling among health care providers that between smoking and cessation medications, the latter is preferable as the lesser of 2 evils.

From my point of view, quitting is still the best strategy. Please try your best ? for your baby`s sake.

Source:

Rigotti et al. 2008. Smoking Cessation Medication Use Among Pregnant and Postpartum Smokers. Obstetrics & Gynecology 2008;111:348-355.

Allergies, low birth weight, these are both effects of mom’s smoking with babies during and after pregnancy – in the long-term. But is there any evidence in the short-term that smoking is indeed bad for your baby?
A study published in Pediatrics demonstrates the bad effect of smoking on babies – effects that can be seen immediately. This was observed among breastfeeding, smoking mommies and their babies.

Researchers monitored the sleeping patterns of babies breastfed by moms who are smokers.
The results show that babies which were breastfed right after moms have smoked sleeps poorly. However, when moms abstain from smoking a few hours before breastfeeding, babies sleep longer and better.

So smoking moms, don’t complain about your fussy baby and your state of sleep deprivation. It’s not your baby that is the problem. It’s the nicotine you smoke that goes to the breast milk and is drunk by your baby. In other words, your smoking habit is the problem.

Source:

Mennella et al., 2007. Breastfeeding and Smoking: Short-term Effects on Infant Feeding and Sleep. PEDIATRICS Vol. 120 No. 3 September 2007, pp. 497-502

Researchers at McMaster University have found that exposure to nicotine while the baby is still in the womb, whether because the mother was smoking or through secondhand smoke, compromises the baby’s ability to respond to oxygen deprivation which increases the chances of a baby falling victim to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

The birth supposedly triggers a baby’s oxygen-sensing mechanism, which remains active for several months after the birth, that allows a baby to react accordingly in occasions of apnea or asphyxia. Basically, the adrenal gland releases catecholamines which contains adrenaline, the building block of our ‘fight and flight’ response.

Exposure to even little amounts of nicotine compromises this mechanism resulting in babies born with a compromised ability to detect oxygen deprivation, unable therefore to respond accordingly by moving its head.

Resources:
Medical News Today