A recent experiment shows how a yet to be born baby reacts as if defending himself from his mom's smoking habits. The unborn baby had 4D ultrasound scans revealing the tiny movements of fetuses while his mom lights up a stick of cigarette.
The project, conducted by Durham and Lancaster and lead by Dr. Nadja Reissland, had 20 pregnant moms from the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. The participants had four pregnant mom who smoked an average of 14 sticks a day. She conducted their scans during the 24th, 28th 32nd and 36th weeks and studied the fetuses' reaction inside the womb.
Results from her study suggest that those fetuses who have been exposed to moms who smoked had been detected to have considerably higher rates of mouth movement and self-touching than those carried by moms who did not smoke. It was also observed that towards nearing the date of the delivery, the fetus that was exposed to their moms smoking showed a less mouth and hand movements, according to Telegraph.
One of the aims of the study is to show pregnant women the negative effects of maternal smoking to their yet to be born babies, making them give up the habit through the strong visuals from the 4D ultrasound images as it indicates that these babies carried by smokers may have delayed development of their central nervous system.
"A larger study is needed to confirm these results and to investigate specific effects, including the interaction of maternal stress and smoking," Dr. Reissland said from Durham's Psychology Department.
Smoking poses harmful health effects to people who are actually puffing it and to those who are exposed to it. There have been many studies proving how it can lead to lung cancer, heart diseases and other respiratory problems.
"Technology means we can now see what was previously hidden, revealing how smoking affects the development of the fetus in ways we did not realize," co-author Professor Brian Francis of Lancaster University said. "This is yet further evidence of the negative effects of smoking in pregnancy."
