Smoking parents, sharing a room with their sleeping babies, condemn them to be passive smokers with three-times heightened nicotine levels.
Smoking parents, sharing a room with their sleeping babies, condemn them to be passive smokers with three-times heightened nicotine levels.
The research study, known as BIBE (Brief Intervention in Babies Effectiveness), published in BMC Public Health says ventilating the rooms after smoking, smoking at the window, or smoking when the baby is not in the room does not resolve the situation as smoke particles can stick to clothes, skin and furniture for quite some time and affect the baby. Babies who are in the same room with parents who smoke have a nicotine level almost three times more than babies who sleep in a different room. The research team in Spain interviewed the parents [with at least one in the couple a smoker] of 1,123 babies, under 18 months of age. They investigated hair samples from 252 babies to determine their nicotine levels, and carried out follow-up visits three and six months later. With 73% of the adults who smoked, the research disclosed that 83% of the babies had high nicotine levels.
It was also revealed that that mothers who do smoke do not breastfeed babies for as long as those who don't.
Guadalupe Ortega, lead author of the research study and coordinator of the Atenció Primària Sense Fum programme at the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Cataluña, said, “Passive smoking is the leading preventable cause of childhood death in developed countries. The tightening of the law to control smoking is important because of its indirect effect on raising awareness among the public at large."
It was also revealed that that mothers who do smoke do not breastfeed babies for as long as those who don't.
Guadalupe Ortega, lead author of the research study and coordinator of the Atenció Primària Sense Fum programme at the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Cataluña, said, “Passive smoking is the leading preventable cause of childhood death in developed countries. The tightening of the law to control smoking is important because of its indirect effect on raising awareness among the public at large."
Source-Medindia