Smoking and pregnancy
If you or your partner smokes, it can be harder to get pregnant.
If you smoke while you’re pregnant, your baby smokes too.
If you inhale other people’s smoke while you’re pregnant, this smoke also passes to your baby.
Smoking when pregnant: harmful for your baby
Smoking when you’re pregnant increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth or having a low birth weight baby.
Cigarette smoke can damage your baby’s brain and lungs and increase risks for asthma, childhood illness, and cleft lip and palate.
There’s a strong link between sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) and smoking during pregnancy and after birth.
Quitting smoking: good for you and your baby
Smoking can reduce how much breastmilk you make and put harmful substances in your breastmilk. But even if you smoke, breastfeeding is still best for your baby.
It’s never too late to quit. For example, one hour after you quit, the risk of pregnancy complications and your baby’s risk of illness goes down.
If you’re finding it hard to quit, call the Quitline on 137 848 for help.