Does Maternal Smoking Affect Infant Language?
Although most women who abuse alcohol and other drugs also smoke cigarettes, the effect of prenatal exposure to tobacco is not well explored. The negative effects of smoking on birth weight were known and women in the 1960’s were warned not to smoke when pregnant to avoid having a low birth weight baby. However, we were also told that the baby’s weight would quickly “catch up” following birth and that there were no other negative consequences. Over time, some other problems were identified particularly in children who lived with smokers and were exposed to what is called ETS (environmental tobacco smoke). Read more…
