Summary: When a child is growing in the mother’s womb, it’s extremely vulnerable. Everything a mother does, from the air she breathes to how she manages stress can affect the development of organs and susceptibility to disease. In the case of smoking, it can actually change the physical make up of the lungs making it more likely the child will have lung related problems that might not even show up until years later. Lisa Joss-Moore, Ph.D. and associate professor in the Division of Neonatology, talks about how a mother’s smoking while pregnant is more damaging to a baby’s development than you might have thought and about her research to understand what causes these changes in an effort to treat them.
