Pregnancy & Prenatal Care

How Smoking, Drinking, & Drugs Affect You & Your Baby

When you smoke, drink, or take drugs, your baby does, too! Smoking, drinking, and/or taking drugs can increase your risk for problems. Your baby is at more risk for problems, too.

Smoking

Pregnant women who smoke have more chances for these problems:

•  Vaginal bleeding

•  Ectopic pregnancy

•  Miscarriage or stillbirth

•  Preterm birth

Babies born to pregnant women who smoke have more chances for these problems:

•  Low birth weight

•  Crib death

•  Less able to fight infections, like colds, after being born

•  Some may learn more slowly when they go to school

Drinking Alcohol

Pregnant women who drink alcohol have more chances for these problems:

•  Miscarriage

•  Stillbirth

Babies born to pregnant women who drink alcohol have more chances for these problems:

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) - when the mother drinks a lot. With FAS, the baby is apt to have one or more of these things:

•  Low birth weight

•  Mental problems (the baby could be retarded)

•  Behavior problems

•  Learning problems

•  Health problems

•  Body defects

{Note: No one knows a safe level of alcohol for pregnant women. It is best not to drink at all.}

Taking Drugs

From cocaine (also called “crack”):

•  Early miscarriage

•  High blood pressure

•  Heavy bleeding late in pregnancy

•  Sudden death, heart attack, or stroke

•  If the mother shares needles with other drug users, she also is at more risk for Hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS.

From heroin and other narcotics:

•  Preterm birth

•  Stillbirth

•  If the mother shares needles with other drug users, she is at more risk for Hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS as well.

From Marijuana – (also called “pot” or “grass”):

•  Changes in mood and sense of reality

•  Preterm birth

From cocaine (also called “crack”):

•  Low birth weight

•  Slow growth

•  Tend to have smaller than normal heads and brains

•  May have brain injury

•  Crib death

•  Body defects

•  Learning problems

•  Behavior problems

From heroin and other narcotics:

•  Low birth weight

•  Slow growth

•  Addicted to the drug when born

•  Trouble thinking and learning

•  Behavior problems

From Marijuana – (also called “pot” or “grass”):

•  Low birth weight

•  May have behavior problems

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