Planning a family? Pregnant? Still Smoking?

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1.  Smoking hurts your baby before it's born.

While it's growing inside you, your baby needs plenty of oxygen, good food and vitamins.  But what does they baby get when you smoke? 

	Carbon monoxide - a poisonous gas.
	Nicotine - a drug people can get hooked on.
	And a lot of chemicals - many that cause cancer in adults.

These things can really hurt your unborn baby.  It might not grow as big as it should inside you.  Or it might be born too soon.  And worst of all, smoking sometimes can cause babies to be born dead.

Give your baby every chance to be ready to face the world.  That means eat healthy foods, exercise, see your doctor and quit smoking!!

2.  Smoking hurts your baby after it's born.

Some kids of smoking parents don't learn to read as well as other kids.  It's not the kid's fault.  But the reason may be because you kept smoking when you were pregnant.

And if you keep smoking, all the chemicals of your cigarettes will keeping hurting your new baby.  He or she will be more likely to get more colds and other kinds of lung infections than other children.  You may have trouble getting pregnant again if you keep smoking.

We've not trying to make you feel bad.  But we do want you to know how important it is to quit smoking, important for your baby and your family.

3.  Smoking hurts you.

Smoking is an addiction.  It causes lung and heart diseases.  It dries out your skin and makes you look old before your time.  And, of course, down the road, there's lung cancer.  And not every smoker who dies of lung cancer is old.  Some die in middle age.

Sure, quitting is hard.  But the thing about being a parent is this: your kids always need you.  They need you now, when they're young, to teach them all the things they have to know.

They'll need you later, too, when they're going off to school, starting a job, and raising their own families.

Shiawassee County Health Department

110 East Mack Street

Corunna, Michigan  48817

(989) 743-2355

1-800-859-4229

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