Weaning does not affect baby's birth weight, major study shows.
Children of mothers who used e-cigarettes during pregnancy have the same birth weight as children of non-smokers. This is according to a study conducted at the Infants University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland.
The study compared four groups: smokers, non-smokers, e-cigarette users and smokers who also used e-cigarettes. A total of 8000 women gave birth during the months of the study. The e-cigarette user group included 254 women who exclusively vejped. They gave birth to babies with a birth weight similar to that of the non-smoking women. However, those who smoked or used e-cigarettes in parallel with analogue cigarettes, gave birth to children with a significantly lower weight.
Low birth weight can increase the risk of complications during infancy, such as sudden infant death syndrome.
Only e-cigarettes during pregnancy
The study is the first of its kind in that it clearly distinguishes women who only take vejp from women who only take both use e-cigs and smoke. According to the researchers, the study clearly shows that women who stopping smoking with e-cigarettes does not affect the baby's birth weight. At the same time, the study shows that smokingregardless of whether the number of cigarettes is reduced by using e-cigs, still has a significant impact on the child.
The researchers point out that although the levels of aldehydes and other harmful substances are significantly lower in the vapour from e-cigarettes than in the smoke from cigarettes, they do not yet know how these lower levels can affect the foetus. At present, there are studies in animals that suggest that nicotine can affect a child's development.
Old methods do not work well
Meanwhile, other nicotine products such as patches, gum and sprays have not been shown to affect foetal development. And according to the researchers, abstinence from nicotine is always preferable.
'But the research also shows that traditional stop-smoking methods have limited effectiveness among pregnant women.. Significantly more women use e-cigarettes as a form of smoking. harm reduction strategy during pregnancy. At the very least, our study shows that e-cigarette use alone does not seem to affect foetal birth weight," the researchers write.
Different between countries
In Sweden, midwives advise pregnant women to not using e-cigarettes or other nicotine products during pregnancy. This is in contrast to the UK, where authorities and health organisations actively encourage healthcare professionals to recommend different flavours of nicotine, including e-cigarettes, as a way of discouraging pregnant women from smoking.
All these studies that show so differently, it is strange that what is genuine cannot win over the false one supported by cigarette companies.