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Secondhand Smoke and Babies
Does Secondhand Smoke Cause Sleep Disturbances in Infants?
By Kelly Burgess
The best that can be done is to support public education campaigns that continue to spread the word that secondhand smoke is extremely harmful to children and to hope parents get the message. However, even parents who don't smoke around their children may still be exposing them to the chemicals in tobacco that cause problems.
"The chemicals that cause the reaction get into fabric and other materials, so just because you're not smoking while holding your baby doesn't mean your baby doesn't have exposure," says Dr. Montgomery-Downs. "Also, what people don't realize about nicotine and secondhand smoke is that it's not just in the lungs; it's in the whole body. Samples taken from the hair and meconium of infants can measure the level of their exposure to secondhand smoke."
Because Dr. Montgomery-Downs' study took such an interesting turn, she's decided to continue down the path of studying the effects of secondhand smoke and very young children. She's also interested in following up on the research showing developmental delays in the infants of smokers to see if that follows them through their early school years.
In the meantime, if you are a smoker and your baby snores or wheezes, Dr. Montgomery-Downs suggests taking him or her to a pediatrician for evaluation of disturbed sleep.
Also, for your sake and your baby's sake, please try to quit smoking.
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