Parental smoking on cotinine levels in newborns
From the University of Leicester researchers have found that Infants from smoking households accumulate cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, which may have a detrimental effect on the cardiorespiratory system. Specifically, antenatal smoking may affect up to 25% of regnancies,11 causing morphological placental changes that lead to chronic fetal hypoxic stress and abnormal lung and brain development. The study found that
* If parents smoke, the baby smokes.
* Mother smoking is the most important contributing factor.
* Co-sleeping and the temperature of the room the baby sleeps in are also contributory factors.