Smoking and pregnancy

How Smoking Harms Babies

One in four pregnant women in the UK continues to smoke despite warnings about the dangers to their babies, both in the womb and later life.

Around 150,000 unborn children each year are at risk from damage triggered by parental smoking, especially by the mother, which ranges from respiratory illness to hearing problems. An estimated 400 die before or shortly after birth because of their mother's habit, which increases the chances of miscarriage or stillbirth. The risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome goes up by around 20 per cent in babies when a parent smoked during pregnancy.

Women who smoke while pregnant are three times more likely to have a low birthweight baby, which can lead to illness and death in infancy.