Pregnancy is a risky time when the slightest deviation from a healthy lifestyle can cause a lot of damage to the unborn child’s future.
Drinking alcohol when you’re pregnant can lead to foetal alcohol syndrome. And smoking too poses a threat to the unborn child.
Women who smoke are in fact twice as likely to have an extra-uterine pregnancy and three times as likely to suffer a miscarriage.
Causing facial abnormalities, delayed growth, malformations of the cranium and the brain, foetal alcohol syndrome can result in serious damage to the nervous system which in turn leads to delayed intellectual development.
The risk of premature birth is also greatly increased if a pregnant woman drinks alcohol.
Smoking too is harmful to the unborn child. The placenta transmits almost everything the mother consumes to the foetus and the mother’s blood will be loaded with carbon monoxide and nicotine.
Carbon monoxide is particularly toxic and slows down foetal development. Nicotine also acts as an intoxicant on the unborn child who, once born, is likely to suffer from withdrawal syndrome.