[Evaluation of the women's knowledge about Fetal Tobacco Syndrome]

Smoking is still a common habit in Poland. Nowadays, it is the way of coping with stress, it is used to become calm or more alert. It is also widely accepted by people from various backgrounds. Unfortunately, the number of young women--tobacco addicts is increasing. Smoking before and during pregnancy has bad effects on women and their children as well. First discoveries of negative influence of smoking observed lesser birth weight of the babies whose mothers were smokers, compared with the babies whose mothers were non-smokers (Simpson 1957). He proved in his research that the more the mother smokes the lesser the birth weight of her baby is, and it doesn't depend on the woman's age, weight, height or gynecological past. Pregnant women who smoke more often suffer from such consequences as: bleeding during pregnancy, placenta abruption, placenta previa, premature rupture of membranes. The fetus death rate after the twentieth week of pregnancy is much higher among smoking women than non-smoking ones. Lower fertility and conception difficulties are also consequences of smoking. Therefore, the education of girls and women in the period before they plan having children is very important. The mother and child's health depends exclusively on the knowledge, awareness and attitudes of future parents.