Did you know smoking during pregnancy actually increases addiction risks in the unborn child? Medical experts generally advise women not to smoke when they are pregnant because it could have dire consequences on the child’s health.

Doctors say when pregnant women smoke, the children they give birth to could likely develop birth defects and learning disabilities. They could also suffer respiratory issues.

But that is not all; there is growing evidence these days that shows that when a mother uses a drug like nicotine, her baby’s pleasure centers get stimulated together with hers. This could have some effect on the child’s life afterward.

A recent study showed that when pregnant women smoke, their children’s state of reward processing is altered. This translates to the children tending to participate in risky behaviors like rough driving, alcohol and especially drug use and abuse.

The study involved 177 youths between the ages 13 and 15 and the results prove that indeed, pregnant women who smoke are more likely to have children with increased addiction risks. Teenagers whose mothers smoked while they were pregnant for them were more likely to get excited with exploring new and dangerous things including smoking.

According to a study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, adolescents whose mothers smoked while pregnant for them had a weaker response to genetic traits that can cause the child to indirectly be drawn to the culture and environment of smoking. This according to researchers could represent a risk factor for substance use and development of addiction later in life.

It is therefore clear that pregnant women who smoke do not only expose their unborn children to health issues, they also risk causing the children to become drug addicts. This is not something any parent of good reasoning will want for her child. It is therefore imperative for women to make an effort not to smoke, especially when they discover that they’re pregnant.

The choice of whether to smoke or not is entire the woman’s to make, but the consequences on the child she bears will affect the entire society when this child eventually starts growing up. Women should therefore take this seriously and never consider smoking in times of pregnancy.