Smoking harms your baby. When you smoke, your baby gets less oxygen. Lack of oxygen can cause your baby to grow more slowly and gain less weight in the womb. Smoking during pregnancy has also been linked to preterm labor and other pregnancy complications.
What you can do:
Quit or cut back as much as you can. We know it’s hard, but remember, you’re doing this for your baby. Here are some resources that can help:
- Your health care provider
- Your employer
- smokefree.gov
- 1-800-Quit-Now
- The National Tobacco Cessation Collaborative
- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
If you are pregnant, avoid other people's smoke. Studies suggest that regular exposure to secondhand smoke may harm the baby.
For more information, read the March of Dimes fact sheet Smoking During Pregnancy.
