Above post - so true!!
I dx kids with learning disabilities in the school setting. Drinking, smoking, drugs all have a high correlation of learning disabilities or problems with executive functioning (i.e., initiating, planning, finishing tasks....).
On a personal level, my mom smoked throughout her entire pregnancy with me. I was not dx with ADHD or Dyslexia until college. I always knew I had problems. I also had asthma as a child, was a product of a premature birth, and was the shortest and skinniest girl in school until my 11th grade year. I was usually about 2 years behind socially and academically compared to same age peers. In addition, I had a very low immune system as a child and often missed several days of school a year, which didn't help my social and academic difficulties. Although I was born premature, I was pretty healthy. I now have significant anxiety disorder to top it off. As a result, it appeared like I was healthy. My mom smoked between 5 and 12 cigarettes a day with me (maybe even more). My mom had two boys before I was born and didn't smoke when she was pregnant with them. They had no problems like I had.
All of the factors mentioned above are defined as "correlation" which does not imply "causation" meaning that I have no proof that my difficulties were "caused" by my mom smoking. Reading a great deal of research, testing kids for learning disabilities and the such, and based on my own personal experience I do believe that even smoking causes harm.
Sure, there will always be a few cases where kids do come away unscathed. Just know that you aren't playing roulette with your baby and taking that chance.
I also used to be a smoker (started at age 12 and quit and age 18 ). It is very difficult to quit, so any pregnant person that does smoke but is attempting everything to quit gets my support! It has been 14 years since I have smoked and I still get smoking dreams and the smoking desire still creeps up. It's such a difficult habit to break.
