According to Parents, smoking, as we all know, is a definite no for the health of the baby and doctors constantly urge mothers not to smoke during pregnancy if they want to preserve the health of their babies. A new study is now showing the adverse effects that smoking has on the growing baby and it confirms the suggestions put forward by doctors. Pregnant smokers will definitely think twice the next time they are about to light up a cigarette after seeing these images!
The Horrible Effects of Smoking on Fetuses
The research includes 4-D ultrasound images from fetuses of mothers who smoke and images with fetuses from non-smokers mothers. Namely, it was found that the unborn ones whose mothers smoked had a tendency to touch their faces more, which may be a sign of delayed development. What’s more, they also moved their mouths more, a tendency which is expected to decrease during normal development, as the authors point out.
As the pregnancies advanced, the distinctions between the two groups only increased. But, the good side of this rather disturbing discovery is that the babies in the study were all born in perfect health.
The authors of the study however want to use the images as means for educating new mothers in the future who would probably be more willing to cease smoking after seeing the images.
Check out the image collection below:
The top row portrays the scans of fetuses of mothers who smoke and the bottom ones are of non-smoking mothers’ fetuses.
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