Your baby: How infants and children are affected by tobacco smoke

When parents smoke around infants and children

Secondhand smoke can be harmful to children because:

• Breathing in cigarette smoke causes a child's airway to get even smaller, making it hard to breathe.
  • Secondhand smoke causes between 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections (such as bronchitis and pneumonia) in infants and children younger than 18 months old. This leads to between 7,500 and 15,000 hospital stays each year.
  • Secondhand smoke can trigger and make asthma attacks worse.
• Secondhand smoke puts children at an increased risk for ear infections.
• Cigarette smoke has more than 4,000 chemical compounds.
  • Poisonous gases and chemicals in secondhand smoke include hydrogen cyanide (used in chemical weapons), carbon monoxide (in car exhaust), butane (used in lighter fluid), ammonia, and toluene (found in paint thinners).
  • Toxic metals in secondhand smoke include arsenic (used in pesticides), lead, chromium (used tomake steel) and cadmium (used to make batteries).
• Research shows that secondhand smoke has more than 50 chemicals known to cause cancer.
• The more smoke a child is exposed to, the more health risks he or she faces.

Children of smokers:

• tend to be shorter and smaller than children of nonsmokers
• don't learn to read as well
• show slight signs of reduced intelligence
• have an increased risk of heart disease
• are more likely to have ear infections and colds
• are more likely to develop chest illnesses such as bronchitis, pneumonia and asthma
• are more likely to be smokers

When pregnant women smoke

Here's what happens to your baby when you smoke:

• Your baby gets less oxygen and food because nicotine from cigarettes tightens up your blood vessels.
• Your baby gets less oxygen when carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas from cigarettes, gets into your bloodstream.
• Some of the harmful gases and poisons from cigarettes get into your baby's bloodstream.

Smoking increases the possibility of:/p>

• miscarriage or stillbirth
• premature birth: Smoking doubles the chance a baby will be premature.
• a low birth weight baby (less than 51/2 pounds): A low birth weight baby is often sick with many health problems. Small babies are more likely to need special care and stay in the hospital longer. Smoking doubles the chance of a low birth weight baby.
• death in infancy: Low birth weight babies are 40 times more likely to die in the first month than normal weight babies. Secondhand smoke causes between 1,900 and 2,700 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths in the U.S. each year.

When smoking mothers breastfeed

Here's what happens to your baby when you breastfeed:

• Your baby will get nicotine from your breast milk.

Smoking does not prevent you from breastfeeding, but you should talk to a lactation consultant about this.

Related Links

Kids and healthy lungs

Secondhand smoke and cavities

Smoking cessation support groups

First published: 07/07/2001
Last updated: 07/07/2006

Reviewed by: Allina Patient Education experts