Smoking in pregnancy is one of the major contributors to stillbirth.
Every puff of a cigarette has an immediate negative effect on the baby. Carbon monoxide replaces some of the oxygen in the blood, and nicotine also reduces the flow of blood through the umbilical cord.
Your health care professional will ask you about smoking, and offer you a Carbon Monoxide (CO) screening breath test to measure if you have been exposed to unsafe levels of CO from smoke or other sources, including faulty cooking and heating appliances.
Quitting at any time during pregnancy reduces the harm to your baby. However, planning to quit as early as you can means a better start in life for your baby.
Ask your healthcare professional about advice and support on how to stop smoking and available services to support quitting.