This post is brought by VapeRevs.
All of us know that when you vape electronic cigarettes, you undergo a long list of possible health risks as well as during smoking. The situation gets only worse if you are pregnant. When you are in an interesting condition, you are responsible not only for yourself but for your future child (or children). Using medical terms, we may call it a fetus.
A fetus is the unborn young of any vertebrate mammal on a certain stage of development that follows the stage of embryonic development (if we talk about humans, this stage begins at the 9th week after fertilization).
Recent researches wow the question “What are the most common problems that may happen to a pregnant woman because of using even probably the best
What are the basic effects of vaping during pregnancy?
The consequences of the alluring haze of an ecig with enticing flavors may be directly opposite from the seeming pleasure of vaping, especially if you are a mother to be. Though there are some electronic cigarettes, which do not contain nicotine, most of them do. First, the use of ones, which contain nicotine, may trigger nicotine withdrawal. For this to happen certain time is needed, but if we talk about immediate effects, the first example, which comes to mind is narrowing blood vessels. This makes it harder for a baby to receive oxygen and nutrients through the placenta. The next step may be placental insufficiency. Also, nicotine usage causes stress to your body.
The last, but not least is the problem of toxic elements in ecig. Some vape juice flavors contain carcinogenic chemicals. Nobody has identified which of all the chemicals contained can get to the baby. By vaping, you put your baby under the risk of developing cancer. Researchers proved that vaping both usual and nicotine free ecigs is equally dangerous.
The other side of the coin is the social health of a mother to be and her future baby. People do not usually approve pernicious habits. The society may start any form of bullying or moral coercion, which in its turn cause stress and may lead to the nervous breakdown of a mother. All these cause problems with the fetus. Also after some time passed, a child may hear something like: “This is because your mother used ecig!”, which also negatively affect a child’s psychological health.
What may direct consequences for fetus using electronic cigarettes bring?
Due to the results of numerous studies, vaping can lead to the number of health problems connected to pregnancy and giving birth:
Ectopic pregnancy (is also known as the tubal pregnancy) – to put it shortly, when an egg cell becomes fertilized, normally it makes its way to the uterus, where it implants into the uterine lining and continues to grow into a fetus. But in the case of ectopic pregnancy, the egg cell implants outside the uterine. This means it cannot develop normally. Problems usually occur because women are not aware of the fact that they are pregnant and when the egg cell starts growing they get their fallopian tube ruptured and this, in its turn, cause internal bleeding. This must be life-threatening if not found out on time. The worst consequence is death.
Miscarriage (is also known as the spontaneous abortion) – is the unexpected end of a pregnancy before 20 weeks of gestation. What happens, in fact, is the expulsion of the fetus from the uterus on the stage when a fetus cannot live without the mother`s body. So the fetus dies, and the mother also has a high risk of dying. Some factors, among which there is neither stress nor sex, may cause the loss of a baby. These factors may be genetic defects or immune reactions. Usually, it is difficult to find out the reason for the miscarriage. What can be said firmly is that you can never blame yourself as a mother?
Stillbirth (it is miscarriage after 20 weeks of gestation) – literally it is the death of your baby, most of which happen before the labor starts.
Problems with a placenta, e.g., placental abruption – is the process of separating placenta during pregnancy rather than after baby is born. Statistics say that it happens during one out of 150 pregnancies. Most often, it happens during the third trimester.
These are just a few of the most common problems that occur before the delivery of a baby, to which vaping even best e-cig may lead.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) – is the situation, when a visibly healthy infant goes out of the world. The age of infant with SIDS is usually between 1 and 4 months old. Some studies say that this usually happens to babies, whose mothers were smoking or vaping, or was under 20 years old, or to babies, who are premature or have low birth weight.
Low birth weight, which may require hospitalization in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In this case, we talk about a premature baby with critically low birth weight. NICU is a special medical facility, where a baby is put to get proper nutrition and care. Many specialists and doctors are usually involved in the process of baby care.
Higher risk of congenital disabilities (including orofacial clefts, decreased lung, and brain development) – most of them are found within the first year of baby’s life. Some defects are evident and some we may not notice with the naked eye. They may be a cleft lip, hearing loss etc. Those, which are difficult to identify, are found by using special tests, x-rays, echocardiograms.
Taking into account everything said above, we can obviously see the negative effects of using electronic cigarettes, especially during pregnancy. But this is only one part of the problem.
Children, whose mother was vaping during pregnancy, are prone to asthma, colic, development of mental health problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Asthma – is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. Symptoms are episodes of coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. The frequency of the episodes differs from a few times per day to a few times per month.
Colic (is also known as infantile colic) – are episodes of crying for more than 3 hours a day, for more than 3 days a week, for 3 weeks in an otherwise healthy child. This often happens in the evening. The cause of colic is unknown.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – is a mental disorder, which is characterized by difficulties in controlling behavior, which is inappropriate for a baby’s current age.
About the author: Christina Matthews, the journalist who studies the latest news in the health industry. Now she studies the effects of smoking and vaping on health and reasons of such its popularity.