Melbourne: Pregnant teens in Australia are deliberately taking up smoking to reduce the size of their unborn babies and make childbirths less dangerous and painful, a shocking new research has found.
They are scared of giving birth to large babies, finds a research.
According to a 10-year study into smoking in Australia, the girls, who are as young as 16, are actively trying to have smaller babies due to fears that their own young bodies will not be able to handle childbirth.
“They had read on packets that smoking can reduce the birth weight of your baby, which is obviously not how the public health message is intended to be taken,” said Simone Dennis, associate professor at the Australian National University.
“They were scared because they were small. The worst thing that could happen to them was to have an enormous baby,” Dennis was quoted as saying by ‘The New Zealand Herald’.
“Some had even taken it up for the first time for that very reason, and some smoked harder, hoping the promise on the packet would come true,” she said.
The findings are published in the book Smokefree.
(With Agency input)
