Smoking babies ultrasound revealed how mothers smoking during their pregnancy dangerously affect their unborn child. The findings made by researchers on a pilot study could perhaps give those moms second thoughts on smoking while carrying the babies on their wombs.
Smoking babies ultrasound showed that those fetuses with their mothers smoking exhibit disturbed movement of their mouths and faces. Researchers have also found that these movements continue even they grow inside the womb, which is something to worry about as movements must diminished as they develop.
What's more surprising is that more American pregnant mothers still smoke despite alarming effect of smoking on their babies. According to American Lung Association, there were 10.7 percent pregnant smokers in 2005, attributing to $366 million healthcare costs yearly.
"Over and above the effect of stress, smoking status had a significant effect on frequency of fetal mouth movements and a marginally significant effect on facial self-touch," according to the study publihed in medical journal Acta Paediatrica.
The disturbed movements of the babies inside the womb as seen in the smoking babies ultrasound suggest that babies may have weaker central nervous system development.
Nadja Reissland of England's Durham University, the lead author of the pilot study said that hopefully the smoking babies ultrasound could be use as a basis for pregnant mothers to contemplate on smoking. With the outcome, Reissland added that hopefully mothers will be more inclined to stop smoking.
SMH reported that the initial research invited pregnant mothers from the antenatal unit at James Cook University Hospital in Britain who were smoking 14 cigarettes daily. The 4D smoking babies ultrasound were taken at 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.
Researchers from Durham and Lancaster Universities in the U.K. revealed that the babies with mothers who smoke have higher rate of mouth movements as seen in the smoking babies ultrasound.
Although facial and mouth movements are the same pattern displayed by babies with depressed moms, nicotine exposure is still considered a major risk for the fetus development.
As mentioned in the press release sent by the Durham University on March 23, the disturbed movements are caused by the impaired fetal central nervous system development.
The CNS is the one responsible for the general movements and with the smoking babies ultrasound result, it only suggest that their CNS did not develop in the same rate as those babies with mothers who are not smokers.
Smoking while pregnant is very risky to your babies. As cited by Web MD, it lowers the amount of oxygen available for the mother and her baby, it raise chances for stillbirth and miscarriage, it increases baby's heart rate, increases peril to sudden infant death syndrome, it makes baby born prematurely or born with low birth weight and babies can be born with birth defects.
Reissland concluded that bigger study must be done to further prove the result. Co-author Professor Brian Francis, of Lancaster University, supported the initial research and stated that now technology has made it easy to see what was previously hidden.
Francis added with the smoking babies ultrasound result, it further proves that smoking really affects fetus' development in ways that are not realized before.
