How Does Secondhand Smoke Affect Your Child?

Secondhand cigarette smoke poses many health risks to all who are exposed to it. Children are at particular risk for certain side effects caused by cigarette smoke.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), there are particular negative health effects that can develop in infants, children, and teens depending on what age they are exposed to cigarette smoke and for what duration and amount of exposure. Of course parents aren't the only people who may expose their children to cigarette smoke. Grandparents, friends, family, and other caregivers can also expose children to the negative effects of smoke.

According to the AAP, the risks facing pregnant women who smoke or who are exposed cigarette smoke, include: miscarriage, premature birth (born not fully developed), and lower birth weight than expected (possibly meaning a less healthy baby). Once babies are born they are more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and to have learning problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as they age and develop.

The risks of incurring these side effects increases the longer the mother is smoking or exposed to smoke and with the amount of exposure (more cigarettes smoked, longer duration around smoke, etc.). This is also true for the infant's exposure to secondhand smoke.

As children grow, they are still susceptible to developing new long term side effects from cigarette smoke exposure. These include: ear infections, increased amount and severity of coughs and colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, and tooth decay.

Children exposed to cigarette smoke are more likely to have asthma. This is especially bad, since children with asthma are more sensitive to smoke and suffer more asthma attacks and complications from smoke. These children are more likely to suffer from smaller, nuisance symptoms like stuffy nose, headache, sore throat, eye irritation, and hoarseness as well, according to the AAP.

Lifelong and long term side effects of children who grow up exposed to secondhand smoke are serious and include many of the same health conditions smokers themselves suffer from. According to the AAP, these include: poor lung development, lung cancer, heart disease, and cataracts.

If the smoke cannot be totaled removed from the child's environment, there are some things you can do to decrease the damage caused by the exposure. Here are a few tips: have the smoker smoke outside; use an air filter; change your heater/house air filter often and try to buy a better quality air filter to remove more dust and irritants from the air; and have the child wear a face mask if they must be in the room with a smoker when they are smoking. If at all possible try to quit smoking or support the person who smokes in their efforts to quit.

Sources:

Tobacco and Secondhand Smoke, http://www.aap.org/healthtopics/tobacco.cfm

The Dangers of Secondhand Smoke, http://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/tobacco/pages/Dangers-of-Secondhand-Smoke.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token