This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "Expecting Better" by Emily Oster. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading.
Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here .
While you may be a habitual smoker, pregnancy is a special time when smoking will affect the fetus.
How much smoking is OK while pregnant? And what are the risks of smoking during pregnancy?
This one’s pretty simple: tobacco is not recommended at any time in pregnancy or in life. The mechanism of how tobacco causes harm is believed to be nicotine and carbon monoxide restricting oxygen to the fetus and constricting blood vessels in the placenta.
Smoking increases the risk of a lot of complications: anemia, placental abruption, small baby, stillbirths, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Smoking may also cause 5x the risk of SIDS; 86% of SIDS deaths in England were with mothers who smoked.
And unlike alcohol in pregnancy, where moderate drinking didn’t show severe effects, moderate smoking (1-8 cigarettes a day) showed similar risks to more than a pack a day.
Luckily, quitting smoking in the middle of pregnancy decreases complications. If you’re currently smoking while pregnant, it’s not too late to stop. Nicotine replacement therapies show some evidence of being helpful, but the problem is these therapies aren’t that successful in stopping women from smoking.
———End of Preview———
Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best summary of "Expecting Better" at Shortform . Learn the book's critical concepts in 20 minutes or less .
Here's what you'll find in our full Expecting Better summary :
- Why much parenting advice you hear is confusing or nonsense
- The most reliable way to conceive successfully
- How much alcohol research shows you can drink safely while pregnant (it's more than zero)
- The best foods to eat, and what foods you really should avoid
