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Smoking during pregnancy linked to toddler behavioral problems

Respiratory Care Weekly, July 19, 2006

The terrible 2s can be more terrible if mommy smoked while she was pregnant, reported a study in the July/August Child Development. Behavior problems of smoke-exposed toddlers significantly increased-to the point of clinical diagnoses in some cases-between 18 and 24 months of age compared to the nonexposed toddlers. In the study, about half of the 93 children's mothers smoked, and half of those smokers reported puffing a half a pack or more each day during pregnancy.

"The ability to identify these disruptive behavior patterns in exposed children, even at this young age, is very striking," says Lauren Wakschlag, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois-Chicago and lead author of the study. "These findings suggest that, for some children, the roots of problem behavior may occur before they are born."

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