Startling finds have been discovered during a 10-year Australian study on the habit of smoking amongst pregnant teens. The research has revealed pregnant teens are more concerned about giving birth to a larger baby than the health of their child. There is a growing trend that teen girls will smoke throughout their pregnancy to reduce the birth weight of their baby.
The health implications of cigarettes being smoked during pregnancy include higher miscarriage, stillbirth risks, issues with brain development as well as asthma and allergies for the child.
The shocking discovery has stunned Associate Professor, Simone Dennis of the Australian National University. She told the Daily Telegraph she was shocked the teen girls would take a cue from the warnings on the cigarette packets that smoking could cause smaller babies.
“They had read on packets that smoking can reduce the birth weight of your baby, which is obviously not how the public health message is intended to be taken,” she said.
“They were scared because they were small. The worst thing that could happen to them was to have an enormous baby.
“Some were young, 16 or 17 years, and their overriding fear was ‘Oh my God, I’m going to have an enormous child’, so they were actively using cigarettes to medicate against that.”
The research revealed some pregnant girls took up smoking to ensure their baby would be small at birth, while others who smoked regularly, kept the habit up through pregnancy.
“If you smoked more, you could make it better. I was really struck by that.”
Aussie pregnant women who smoke are twice as likely to give birth to babies weighing 200g lighter than those born to non-smoking mums.
Smoking during pregnancy is more popular among younger women, with only 10 percent of expectant mums over 30 years old lighting up.
