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Secondhand Smoke and Your Childrens Lungs
Secondhand Smoke and Your Children's Lungs
Most smokers will agree that he or she does not what their children to take up smoking, and wish they had never started themselves. But do you really understand what secondhand smoke does to your children’s lungs? You probably have heard that it is bad for them, but do you know why?
Secondhand smoke is the name of the smoke that is emitted by a lit cigarette mixed with the smoke that is exhaled by a smoker engaged in the process of smoking. This kind of smoke affects all those who are in close proximity to a smoker, and thus of course all children in a household where one or both parents smoke inside the house or otherwise in the vicinity of the children.
Effects of smoking can be seen even before a child is born. Research has proven that a prenatal exposure to nicotine, as it is contained in cigarette smoke, will lead to a low birth weight in a baby. Additionally, it can contribute to prenatal death and resulting miscarriage.
And once your baby is born, secondhand smoke has been linked to the much feared sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) which causes healthy infants of usually less than one year of age to die without recognizable causation. Babies who were exposed to nicotine before birth, quite often have reduced lung function, which is another reason they are also more susceptible to succumbing to SIDS after birth.
Children of smoking parents who survive their infancy and later on suffer from asthma will experience more severe asthma attacks than those of their counterparts who live in smoke free environments.
Because of the toxins that are exhaled as well as emitted from a lit cigarette, children who are exposed to secondhand smoke very often suffer from aggravated conditions of the respiratory system, such as chronic bronchitis, postnasal drip, asthma attacks and frequent colds. Tthere are also other health concerns which accompany living in a household where the parents smoke, such as an increased risk of ear infections and sore throats.
But the most severe damage done by secondhand smoke to children is the damage inflicted on their lungs.
One of the reasons why children are so adversely affected by secondhand smoke is the fact that their breathing rate is more rapid than an adult’s breathing rate, and thus, by weight, they are receiving sometimes much larger dose of secondhand smoke and all its toxins than an adult does.
Add to this the developmental immaturity of a child’s lungs and it is no surprise that so many childhood hospitalizations involving respiratory function and related illnesses, can be directly traced to a parent’s smoking around the children.
Children who are exposed consistently to secondhand smoke will be at a high risk of developing lung cancer, just like their smoking parents and caregivers are.
There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a hospitalized child whose fear of the unknown is clearly visible in their eyes and mannerisms. Similarly, if parents for some reason are unable to remain by the child’s side at all times, this fear is compounded drastically. Quite possibly the worst part of smoking related hospitalizations in children who were exposed to secondhand smoke is the fact that they could have been so easily avoided.
Do not wait until it is too late and your little one needs to make an unscheduled trip to the hospital - stop smoking now for the sake of your kids!
And if you're not ready to stop smoking immediately, stop smoking in the house. Smoke only outside, and away from your children.
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