Unborn baby winces as his mum smokes

RUBBING his eyes and shielding his face, this unborn baby appears to be protecting himself from second-hand smoke.

And in fact the pronounced movements of this child in the womb are a direct result of his mother’s smoking.

The 32-week-old foetus is moving his hands and his mouth more and for longer than babies carried by non-smokers – a worrying sign that his brain is already being damaged by nicotine, experts say.

Durham University researchers have released the images as a warning of the dangers of smoking while pregnant.

They gave 20 mothers- to - be sophisticated 4D ultrasound scans at regular intervals during their pregnancy. The machine stitches together pictures taken from a variety of angles to create clear moving 3D images.

Four of the women taking part in the study were smokers, averaging 14 cigarettes a day. Analysis of the scans showed that their unborn babies moved their hands and mouths more than the children of the non-smokers.

And, unlike the other babies, they didn’t become less restless as they got older. They continued to rub their faces just as much and moved their mouths more, the journal Acta Paediatrica reports.

The findings can’t be explained away by the women who smoked being more stressed and their unborn babies picking up on that tension. Therefore, it is thought they are a sign that the babies’ brains aren’t developing properly.

Researcher Nadja Reissland said that just as nicotine hastens the death of cells in the adult brain, it may be killing brain cells in the unborn child. And she warned that while an adult can breathe out smoke, an unborn child has no way of avoiding the nicotine that passes through the placenta.

She says the results shouldn’t be used to demonise women who smoke in pregnancy – but to give them the extra impetus they need to give up. One in nine pregnant women smokes, statistics show – but in some parts of the country, the figure is as high as one in five.

Dr Reissland said in future, they could watch videos that show the effect their habit is having on their unborn baby. Smoking is already blamed for a host of problems, from difficulty conceiving, to a complicated pregnancy and an increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and cot death.

Brain damaged by nicotine

The restless foetus repeatedly touches its face and winces – an effect, the experts say, of nicotine being passed through the placenta after the mother inhales

A much more settled child chews calmly on his knuckles, but moves less overall, which is attributed to better brain development free of the effects of nicotine