How dangerous is passive smoking and what consequences can it have? Smoking child - what to do? Passive and active smoking Tobacco smoke for children

Despite the "nationwide wellness programs", smoking bans in in public places and the sale of tobacco to minors, there are no fewer “serious” smokers. Those who are truly addicted to nicotine cannot be stopped by propaganda methods. But our topic today does not concern the topics: “Smoking kills”, “Smoking leads to infertility” and “is the cause cancer diseases" Let's talk about how parental smoking affects children.

Physical effects of smoking on a child

In terms of preserving children's health, the question of smoking by parents and other adults directly next to the child is clear: This irreparable harm ! Let's begin with Not smoking parents , indeed, much Smokers are more likely to be fertile. Women's ability to become pregnant (according to some scientific studies) last decade) directly depends on the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Those who quit smoking, within a few months (in the absence of other diseases and abnormalities), the ability to bear children is restored.

Pregnant women should not smoke either. Because the fetus breathes “mother’s” air. And while indulging in your bad habit, the level of oxygen reaching the unborn baby drops sharply. Hypoxia begins or, simply, suffocation. The more often the expectant mother smokes, the more the baby suffers.

The consequences of smoking for children are numerous and depressing.

• delay in physical characteristics at birth (weight, height, head circumference);
• birth long before term;
• mental disabilities, etc.

The child was born, the mother continues to smoke. Should I feed no matter what or should I immediately switch to formula milk? These and dozens more questions are worth Discuss this honestly with your gynecologist and with the doctor who will monitor your baby.

Passive smoking causes enormous harm to children's health.

• again: weight gain slowed down(which is fundamentally important for a child in the first year of life: all the main indicators of the baby’s development depend on compliance with weight standards);
• psycho physical development also “lags behind” peers: turning over, sitting down, crawling, etc. The child masters it later than expected;
• may develop asthma;
• And dermatitis;
• head pain, bad dream, night and ;
• children of smoking parents are more susceptible bronchitis, pneumonia, all kinds of pulmonary diseases.

Breaking down the effects of smoking on development physiological child, let's talk about “spiritual”.

Parental smoking and its psychological impact on the child

Children (normal) love parents passionately, free of charge and not always deservedly. They idealize them, almost deify. In everything. One of the “trends” of modern pedagogy is raising children by example(including for teachers at school). If dad/mom smokes, the child subconsciously believes that it's right that it should be so. And, no matter how much you tell him about the dangers of nicotine, no matter how much you prohibit him from adolescence, - everything will be in vain. Your daily smoking is more colorful than all the soul-saving conversations in the world.

Some parents " smoking secretly": they hide, leave the house, run away on walks “into the bushes.” Believe me: children are much more attentive, sensitive and understanding than adults think about them! Sooner or later the baby will understand everything and ask: “Mom (dad), why do you smoke?” And you will have to

No one will see the fact that smoking is harmful. At the same time (according to WHO - World Health Organization) 1.3 billion people, that is, almost every fifth inhabitant of the Earth, are dependent on tobacco products. In terms of addiction, tobacco smoking is second only to alcoholism, while surpassing heroin and cocaine addiction. However, the fact that 75% of men and 26% of women in Russia smoke, and this number is constantly growing, cannot be called anything other than terrifying. Every year, 332 thousand people die worldwide from the consequences of smoking, including passive smoking (WHO data). More than 30% of this amount accounts for child mortality.

“Children and Smoking” – sad, but extremely actual topic, at least for the reason that a smoking dad is considered almost the norm. And this is not only a bad example, but also a constant passive smoking child, starting from the prenatal period. We will tell you in today’s article what consequences does inhaling tobacco smoke have for young children and expectant mothers.

Children and smoking. Consequences of childhood smoking (active and passive)

The consequences of smoking for children are deplorable - for them the harm caused by the substances included in the composition increases significantly. cigarette smoke. Moreover, this applies not only to active, but also to passive smoking. The child’s body is so weak and defenseless against tobacco poisons that the consequences of even passive smoking can become irreversible. Nicotine, carbon monoxide, toxic tars - terrible enemies of children's health, preventing the body from directing all its forces to growth, development and formation strong immunity; in such conditions we can only talk about survival. It is not possible for a child who smokes or lives in a family of smokers to grow up healthy and strong.

The influence of active and passive smoking on children:

1. Tobacco poisons affect all organs and systems of the body : lungs, heart and blood vessels, kidneys, liver, stomach, nervous system etc. There is a proven connection between passive smoking and the appearance of chronic diseases.
2. Cigarette smoke , inhaled by a child, disrupts metabolism , undermining health from childhood.
3. Toxic substances from tobacco smoke are toxic, they kill brain cells , making the victim of passive smoking absent-minded, nervous, rude, weak-willed, embittered and inadequate.
4. Intelligence decreases, physical development of the child slows down exposed to passive smoking.
5. "Hereditary" smoking . It is obvious that tobacco addiction is much more likely to occur in a person whose parents (or one of the parents) smoked in childhood.

The deterioration of mental abilities due to smoking is proven by the fact that 95% of repeat students smoke. An American study of 22 thousand adolescent smokers showed that in addition to stunting, these children had a reduced size chest and poorly developed lungs. Smoking girls join earlier sex life and look worse than their healthy peers.

We think that the harm of any kind of smoking, including passive smoking, for children is now obvious to you. The only way to protect your child from the above dangers is to completely stop smoking.

The effect of smoking on conceiving a child

The effect of smoking on the unborn child is an issue that worries many families planning a pregnancy. The peak of smoking among Russians occurs at the most childbearing age, 20-29 years.

Smoking and conceiving a child are poorly compatible concepts. The effects of tobacco reduce reproductive function future parents , so conceiving a baby becomes much more difficult. Infertility in smoking women occurs one and a half times more often than in non-smokers!

A real fact for women smokers seeking IVF help: 24% of embryos implant in non-smoking women, and 2 times less in tobacco-dependent women.

A man's smoking can also make it more difficult for him to conceive a child. Male smokers suffer from deteriorating sperm quality , but that's not the worst thing. When planning a pregnancy, it is not for nothing that both partners are advised to quit smoking: tobacco smoke directly affects DNA, can deform sperm, and the result is genetic mutation fetus and, accordingly, miscarriage or the birth of a sick child.

The father's smoking also affects future children from the point of view that it poisons the health of his partner, who becomes a passive smoker.

The influence of smoking on the development of a child: active and passive smoking during pregnancy and after the birth of a baby

If a woman smokes during pregnancy , this in 5 cases out of 100 leads to intrauterine death of the fetus, increases the risk of miscarriage, congenital pathologies and deformities, intrauterine growth retardation, premature birth and stillbirths. In the womb, the child of a pregnant smoker literally suffocates from carbon monoxide, which is part of tobacco smoke. The result is intrauterine hypoxia, the consequences of which can be the most terrible. In addition, smoking during pregnancy will almost certainly cause the birth of a low birth weight baby. On average, the weight of a newborn child of a smoking mother is 250 grams less than that of a non-smoking mother.

Future dad smoking also harmful to the fetus. Starting from the prenatal period, we can talk about passive smoking and its effect on the child. During pregnancy, the baby is completely defenseless, because he cannot withstand the effects harmful substances from tobacco smoke. And a pregnant woman often becomes an unwitting passive smoker if one of the family members smokes at home. Sidestream smoke inhaled by a person from passive smoking contains most out of 4000 harmful components of tobacco smoke, 50 of which are carcinogenic. So all these toxic substances through the mother's blood they are passed on to the child - this is the “gift” the baby receives from loving relatives even before birth.

A newborn living in a family of smokers has a 3 times higher risk of dying from the syndrome sudden death baby, compared to a normal baby.

If the risks of passive smoking bypassed the child, he was born alive and seems quite healthy in the first months, you should not deceive yourself: the impact of hazardous substances on the body, especially such a small and defenseless one, never passes without a trace. Sooner or later, the consequences of passive smoking will certainly manifest themselves in the form of developmental delays, chronic diseases, weak immunity baby.

Children and passive smoking are not just poorly combined words; cigarette smoke naturally poisons a child. Poor health, moodiness, inability to concentrate, bad memory, lethargy and nervousness are sad prospects awaiting children who grow up under a veil of smoke.

How does parental smoking affect the child?

Smoking in the presence of a child, unfortunately, is commonplace in our country. A dad smoking directly into a stroller or confidently lighting a cigarette next to his own offspring does not surprise anyone. “It’s good that there is a dad at all,” women think. It’s hard to argue with this, but there’s no need to give up in the fight for your child’s health! It’s not the baby’s fault at all that adults don’t want to think with their heads.

According to statistical estimates, up to 30% of parents smoke quietly in the presence of their own child, in an apartment, with closed windows. Do they know that passive smoking can inhibit the development of a baby’s lungs by 80%?..

We will disappoint those who believe that smoking by dad or mom is not such a big evil if you smoke in the entrance, on the street or on the balcony: tobacco residue on the clothes, body and hair of adults, household items, the remains of smoke exhaled by the smoker affect children are almost the same as the smoker himself.

Passive smoking in children leads to the development of various diseases of the respiratory system. : bronchitis, severe forms asthma, pneumonia, etc. Ammonia contained in tobacco smoke is dissolved by moist mucous membranes and turns into ammonia, which increases mucus secretion. The result is a wet cough.

In addition, children of smokers are more likely to:

1. allergies;
2. immune abnormalities;
3. infectious and viral diseases;
4. mental disorders;
5. risk of leukemia (blood cancer).

Studies regarding passive smoking in children have shown disappointing results: for the youngest (under 3 years old), the likelihood of acquiring a particular respiratory disease increased by 56%, even if only the father smoked; by 95% - when the mother smokes during breastfeeding; in older children (7-14 years old) exposed to secondhand smoke, obvious signs breathing disorders.

Why do children and teenagers smoke?

Subject children's smoking is inextricably linked with the prevalence tobacco addiction in adults. After all, it is the parents who show the child an example of how to behave in life. As you know, a bad behavior pattern is much brighter and more contagious. It doesn’t matter whether the family is prosperous, the children will equally copy everything you do. Did you know that 80% of teens who smoke have at least one parent who smokes? Moreover, if the father smokes, the son will almost certainly smoke, and if the mother smokes, then the daughter will...

Even in non-smoking families, however, there is a risk that a teenager will take up a cigarette - the information propaganda of smoking is too great. Add to this the desire to appear older, “cooler”, self-doubt, the precariousness of a teenager’s psyche... The statistics are not surprising: among fifth-graders, 15% of boys and 1% of girls smoke, by the senior grades 53% of boys and 28% of girls have already taken up the bad habit .

How to protect your child from the effects of passive smoking?

Quitting smoking completely is the only sensible decision regarding cigarettes that loving parents should make. There can be no compromises here! By hugging and kissing the baby, even a dad who smokes exclusively on the street “gives” him a whole cloud of poisons and carcinogens.

If convincing a smoker that he is killing his own baby does not seem realistic, at least ventilate the apartment more often! Buy an air purifier. Prohibit household members and guests from smoking at home.

Living in an apartment where lived before If you are a heavy smoker, it is advisable to make repairs, since the walls, ceiling and floor in this case remain saturated with tobacco smoke.

On the street, when walking with a baby, even non-smoking parents need to be careful. Avoid places where someone is standing nearby and smoking; do not go into smoky rooms with your child.

If your child is exposed to second-hand smoke, you should ensure that his diet contains sufficient amounts of antioxidants, in particular vitamin C.

Awareness of the harm of children's smoking, even passive smoking, is the first step towards the health of the whole family. We wish all smokers to get rid of this habit, which has already claimed many lives, as soon as possible. Don’t look at those around you who are smoking with all their might – think with your own head! Health to your children!

Many people make the mistake of thinking that only those who smoke for a long time can suffer from tobacco. It turns out that smoking can harm everyone, including unborn children and those who have never smoked.

If you smoke cigarettes, cigars, a pipe, or use tobacco for chewing or snorting, stop! This is the best thing you can do for yourself and those around you.

Smoking harms children

When parents expose their children to secondhand smoke, they are compromising their health. great danger. In addition, if adults calmly smoke in the presence of children, they thereby demonstrate that smoking is a normal activity.

For reference: passive smoking is the inhalation of smoke exhaled by a person who smokes, as well as from the tip of a lit cigarette, cigar or smoking pipe. This smoke contains about 4,000 different chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic, meaning they cause cancer.

Passive smoke inhalation can cause:

• asthma;
• respiratory infections (for example, pneumonia and bronchitis);
• lung problems;
• ear diseases;
• sudden death of an infant - sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in children under 1 year of age.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that households with smokers keep the home and environment free from tobacco smoke. vehicles, which transport the baby. This is the only way to completely prevent your child from being exposed to toxic chemicals from secondhand smoke.

Smoking harms unborn babies

Smoking during pregnancy, and even regular exposure to second-hand smoke during pregnancy, can lead to many serious health problems for both women and their unborn children. For example, to such troubles and even tragedies as:

• miscarriage;
• premature birth (birth of a fetus that is not yet fully formed);
• lower than expected baby's birth weight;
• development of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS);
• learning difficulties, attention deficit problem or motor hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Smoking harms teenagers

90% heavy smokers They begin to do this before the age of 18. According to statistics, approximately one third of them will die from smoking-related diseases. At all smoking teenagers suffer from the same health problems as adult smokers. They also observe:

• nicotine addiction;
• prolonged cough;
• increased heart rate;
• lung problems;
• increased blood pressure;
• decreased endurance and resistance to disease;
• increased risk of developing lung and other cancers;
• increased susceptibility to respiratory infections;
• bad breath, yellow teeth and yellow nails;
• hair and clothes become saturated with the pungent smell of tobacco;
• the skin becomes wrinkled and gray faster.

Therefore, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends raising the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 years. In most cases, once a person reaches the age of 21, they are unlikely to start smoking. Countries that have raised the legal age for purchasing tobacco products are aiming to reduce the number of teenagers who smoke.

Smoking harms adults

Smoking is recognized as one of the most common reasons deaths in the United States. However, unlike most other reasons, this one is very easy to fight - you just need to stop smoking and poisoning others with tobacco smoke.

Think about the facts listed below.

• Every year, about 6 million people worldwide die from smoking-related diseases. According to American Society cancer, smoking kills more people than alcohol and drugs, not to mention the number of people dying in road accidents, from AIDS, as a result of suicide or murder.
• Smoking is believed to be the cause of 87% of lung cancer deaths. Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer in men and women.
• Except oncological diseases Smoking also contributes to the development of heart disease, strokes, chronic lung problems and many other ailments.
• As a result of secondhand smoke in the United States, about 3,400 nonsmokers die each year from lung cancer, and from 22,000 to 69,000 nonsmokers die from cardiovascular disease.

It's time to quit smoking!

Thousands of people have found a way to quit smoking and stop ruining their health. You can do it too! People who quit smoking feel much healthier and more energetic, and they look significantly better than their smoking peers. Quit smoking save money and give good example for children to imitate. But the most important thing is that they improve not only their well-being and life, but also their loved ones.

Legislative bans on smoking in public places to some extent protect people from second-hand smoke. Adults can ask smokers not to light cigarettes in their homes. But when parents and other family members smoke indoors or in cars, babies inhale the smoke and become passive smokers. Short-term damage and long-term damage to the health of their lungs occurs due to small particulate matter contained in smoke.

Cigarette smoke contains more than 250 chemicals and poisons, and, as is known, the degree of harm caused by passive smoking is even higher than by regular smoking. It increases even more if we're talking about about the weak, unprotected and developing organism. Thus, according to American statistics, passive smoking causes more than 150,000 different types of respiratory infections in children under 18 months, and more than 7,500 hospitalizations.

Slowing the development of alveoli in the lungs

First serious problem for the health of newborns exposed to secondhand smoke is to slow the development of alveoli in the lungs. Alveoli - small air sacs in the lungs where metabolism occurs carbon dioxide and oxygen. Babies are born with only 1/5 of what they need normal breathing 300 million alveoli. Typically, from birth to age 8, these small air sacs develop. A 2006 study from UC Davis found that among toddlers exposed to secondhand smoke, apoptosis, or the death of body cells, increased and they never developed enough alveoli for a healthy respiratory system. In turn, underdeveloped respiratory system not only entails various diseases, but also significantly limits the activities of adolescents and adults - you cannot play sports, there will be difficulties when walking up stairs, etc.

Newborns who are exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to develop asthma, even if there were no signs of it previously, and those same particulate matter increase the likelihood of even more severe asthma attacks and an increase in their frequency. Babies with asthma have excessive mucus production and are at risk inflammatory process and spasms in the bronchioles. This is why it is so important that parents understand the harmful effects that secondhand smoke has on children. There is no level of secondhand smoke that reduces the risk of asthma.

Increased chances of developing diseases

The American Surgery Center reports that secondhand smoke can cause two serious illnesses lungs: bronchitis and pneumonia, including chronic ones. Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchioles, it causes an increase in the intensity of mucus secretion. Babies with bronchitis cough and their respiratory function is impaired. Pneumonia - serious illness lungs, in which the alveoli are infected and inflamed. Fluid in the lungs weakens breathing. And difficulty breathing leads to other diseases, including suppression of brain functions.

Plus, young children exposed to secondhand smoke have a much higher risk ear infection. Toxins contained in smoke irritate delicate eustachian tubes babies. This leads to constant swallowing, infections and fluid retention.

Increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome

Newborns who inhale cigarette smoke show an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Research conducted in 2008 at McMasters University proves this. IN in good condition The adrenal glands produce hormones called catecholamines, which cause children to turn their heads when their face drops down and the supply of oxygen is significantly reduced. Children exposed to passive smoking are more accustomed to the lack of oxygen, and because of this, this protective function is impaired: the life-saving adrenaline reaction is either less pronounced or completely absent. This is why babies need to be put to sleep on their back.

So, use a nasty broom to drive the smoker in the family outside (not to the balcony, because smoke from the balcony and even from the corridor often penetrates into the room!) and carefully monitor the guests who are near the child. Since it is still extremely difficult to force someone not to smoke on the street in our country, just take the child and move away from the smoker and/or stand on the windward side.

It is a well-known truth that smoking is harmful to health. But unfortunately, bad habit negatively affects not only the body of a smoker, but also those around him. During a puff, a smoker receives a portion of harmful substances, but the exhaled smoke contains much more toxic toxins, so passive smoking causes irreparable harm to others. Children, whose bodies are too sensitive to the components of cigarette smoke, are especially susceptible to tobacco exposure. But many parents who smoke don't take the problem seriously enough. So today we will talk about everyone negative consequences children's passive smoking.

The effect of passive smoking on the baby's body

Many fathers and mothers do not know, and sometimes simply ignore, how dangerous the harmful inhalation of cigarette substances from environment. Everyone knows that smoking in the presence of children is prohibited. But despite all the awareness, many violate this taboo, shielding themselves with stupid excuses like “ open window”or “exhaling harmful smoke in the other direction.”

Most of them think that by smoking a cigarette they will only inconvenience others for a few minutes. However, it is precisely at these moments that serious pathological problems with the baby’s health can arise, since his body is too weak and very susceptible to various toxic substances. In other words, dear mothers and fathers, by smoking a cigarette in the presence of your child, you are personally robbing him of the most important thing - health.

It has been scientifically proven that passive smoking negatively affects the small and fragile body of a newborn and causes the development of many diseases and pathological disorders, namely:

• respiratory diseases, which can subsequently develop into asthma or other serious pathologies;
• weakening of the immune system, accompanied by dysfunction of all systems of the child’s body and a decrease in protective functions;
• impaired development of the baby;
• ear diseases that can result in hearing loss (partially or completely).

And these are not all the problems that can arise as a result of passive smoking. Many diseases that have arisen in early age against the background of nicotine poisoning, can appear much later, sometimes even after decades. The most frequent consequences are allergies and dysfunction of the reproductive system.

What harm does secondhand smoke cause to children?

Smoking has a negative impact on the health of the smoker himself. Imagine the danger of cigarette smoke inhaled by a child. Children's body, which is in the stage of development and formation, nicotine causes irreparable harm. With each new dose of cigarette smoke, a child’s risk of developing many pathologies increases:

• decrease in the protective functions of the child’s body;
• diseases of the respiratory system;
• ear inflammation (otitis);
• neurobiological disorders;
• diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• development of cancer.

Children growing up in a family of smokers are much more likely to various diseases. Scientists have also established a relationship between passive inhalation of cigarette smoke and children's oncological diseases(leukemia, cancer of the nasal cavity).

When smoking a pack of cigarettes in the presence of a child, parents do not even realize that the harm from such an amount is equivalent to 2 or even 3 cigarettes that the child would “smoke on his own.” Therefore, mothers and fathers need to carefully weigh all the risks that could be fatal for their child.

Consequences of passive smoking of hookah and electronic cigarettes

Many parents mistakenly believe that hookah is less dangerous to others than regular cigarettes. But such alternative method Smoking can hardly be called safe. Scientific research prove that hookah smoke contains many toxins, so its harm can be equated to ordinary tobacco products. In addition, the raw materials for hookah are often made from artisanal plants that no one really checks, so the consequences of such smoking can be unpredictable. In addition, the room in which hookah is smoked is saturated with tobacco and coal smoke. This means that this method of smoking is harmful to non-smoking family members, especially children, whose bodies are very susceptible to all kinds of toxic substances. Therefore, we can safely say that the consequences of passive hookah smoking are also dangerous for the health of children.

As for electronic cigarettes, they can be called the most in a harmless way smoking, but not safe at all. The fact is that electronic cigarettes contain nicotine, which, as we have already found out, has an extremely negative effect on children's health. Being in the company of people who smoke, the baby will be forced to inhale this narcotic poison. In addition, cartridges may contain various impurities containing equally toxic substances.

Therefore, the conclusion suggests itself: smoke e-Sigs and hookah is not allowed in the presence of children.

Protecting your child from passive smoking

The only correct solution in this situation would be complete failure from smoking, and it is advisable to do this long before the planned pregnancy. If you cannot quit smoking, then do it outside, away from children. And do not forget to thoroughly wash your hands, brush your teeth and change clothes after the process so that your baby does not inhale the toxic toxins that your skin and furniture have absorbed.

But even if parents have given up their addiction or don’t smoke at all, this does not mean that the child is protected from second-hand smoke. Cigarette danger can lurk in public places, which must be avoided. Also try not to go into a smoky room with your baby, so as not to expose him to the danger of cigarettes.

If you previously lived in your apartment smoking man, then you should think about a major renovation, since the walls, floors and furniture absorb tobacco toxins that cannot be eliminated by simple ventilation.

Moms and dads need to understand that secondhand smoke is dangerous for children. Therefore, they must make every effort to protect their child from cigarette exposure and create comfortable conditions for its full development.

Especially for - Marina Amiran