Weaning does not affect baby's birth weight, major study shows.
Babies of mothers who used e-cigarettes during pregnancy have the same birth weight as babies 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. These gave birth to babies with a birth weight similar to the non-smoking women. Those who smoked, however or used e-cigarettes in parallel with analog 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 both use e-cigs and smoke. According to the researchers, the study clearly shows that women who quitting smoking with e-cigarettes does not affect the baby's birth weight. At the same time, the study shows that smoking, regardless of whether the number of cigarettes is cut down with the help of e-cigs, still affects the child to a large extent.
The researchers point out that although the levels of aldehydes and other harmful substances are significantly lower in the vapor of e-cigarettes than in the smoke of cigarettes, they do not yet know how these lower levels can affect the fetus. At present, there are studies in animals that suggest that nicotine can affect a child's development.
Old methods work poorly
Meanwhile, other nicotine products, such as patches, gum and sprays, have not been shown to affect fetal development. And according to the researchers, abstinence from nicotine is always preferable.
"But research also shows that traditional stop-smoking methods have limited effectiveness among pregnant women. Significantly more women, however, use e-cigarettes as a harm reduction strategy during pregnancy. At the very least, our study shows that e-cigarette use alone does not appear to affect fetal birth weight," the researchers write.
Different between countries
In Sweden, midwives recommend that pregnant women not use e-cigarettes or other nicotine products during pregnancy. This is in contrast to the UK, where authorities and health organizations actively encourages healthcare professionals to recommend different variants of nicotine, including e-cigarettes, as a way to encourage pregnant women not to smoke.
All these studies that show so differently, strange that what is genuine cannot win over the false one supported by cigarette companies.