Too Many Expectant Moms and Dads Smoking, Drinking, and Using Marijuana

You don't hear much, if anything, about the need for a dad-to-be to skip drinking, smoking, or doing drugs while the woman in his life is expecting a baby. Pregnancy precautions are, understandably, usually about the moms — what they should and shouldn't do.

Tracking the progress of more than 800 children through young adulthood, researchers at the University of Washington found that many of the females in the study who eventually became pregnant put their babies at serious — even deadly — risk by using alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana.

But also noteworthy, say the researchers, is that "men's substance abuse was not affected by their partner's pregnancy." The would-be fathers continued to drink, smoke, or do drugs consistently while their partners were pregnant and after their babies were born. By abusing substances that should be avoided during pregnancy, the dads don't make it any easier for moms-to-be to quit their bad habits, say the researchers.

The study also reports that:

• During pregnancy, women's cigarette- and marijuana-smoking and binge drinking went down overall, but those rates went back up again within the first 6 months after the baby was born.
• Almost 80% of the women who smoked cigarettes and half of those who smoked marijuana continued to light up those substances at one time or another while they were pregnant.
• Nearly 40% of the women who smoked cigarettes and almost a quarter of those who used marijuana said they'd done so during their entire pregnancies.

The study also found that the women often went back to their unhealthy pregnancy ways within 2 years after giving birth, which put their infants' health at risk when they were exposed to cigarette or marijuana smoke and made for much less coherent, attentive parents when mom and/or dad drank too much or did drugs.

What This Means to You

If you're pregnant, you've likely been told by your doctor, friends, family members, maybe even total strangers that smoking, drinking, and doing drugs are a major no-no. But maybe you've wondered why and what, exactly, using these substances can do to your baby. So, here's the basic gist of the hazards behind each:

Alcohol
One of the most common known causes of mental and physical birth defects, alcohol produces more severe abnormalities in a developing fetus than heroin, cocaine, or marijuana. It may seem harmless to have a glass of wine at dinner or a mug of beer out with friends, but no one has determined what's a "safe amount" of alcohol to drink during pregnancy or just how much can cause the serious physical, developmental, and functional problems seen in fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Even moderate alcohol intake or occasional binge drinking can possibly damage a baby's developing nervous system. That's why it's always wise to err on the side of caution and not drink any alcohol at all while you're pregnant. If you had a drink or two before you knew you were expecting (as many women do), don't worry too much about it. But your best bet is to not drink any more alcohol for the rest of your pregnancy.