It has long been recognised that smoking during pregnancy is a bad move but a new study has suggested that the impact could be even more damaging than first thought.
The research was carried out by Durham and Lancaster University and used moving 4D scan images to recorded tiny movements in the womb.
Twenty mothers took part in the study, four of whom smoked an average of 14 cigarettes a day, and the images produced show a major difference between the behaviour of the babies whose mothers didn’t smoke and those who did.
A non-smoker’s baby
A smoker’s baby
The babies belonging to the smokers were found to move their mouths and touch themselves significantly more than those carried by non-smokers.
Foetuses usually move their mouths and touch themselves less as they gain more control the closer they get to birth so the pilot study indicates that babies carried by smokers may have delayed development of the central nervous system.
It is hoped that a larger study can now be carried out to substantiate the claims.
‘Technology means we can now see what was previously hidden, revealing how smoking affects the development of the foetus in ways we did not realise. This is yet further evidence of the negative effects of smoking in pregnancy,” said co-author Professor Brian Francis of Lancaster University.
