A Baby's First Diaper is Important!

Did you know taht by looking into a newborn's first poop session, it can determine whether the mother was exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy, and how much? The word is meconium, the dark and tarry stools the baby gives out during its first few days. In a research of 337 samples of meconim from babies, researchers looked at the biomarers of exposure, serum and meconium tobacco smoke metabolites. Tobacco smoke metabolites in meconium showed the duration and intensity of exposure to tobacco smoke. Concentrations were hgiher in infants born to smokers than women with secondhand or no exposure.

This relates to the science concepts of looking at an infant's meconium to find if his mother has smoked during pregnancy, which is definitely not good. This includes looking at the meconium's tobacco smoke metabolites, the biomarkers of exposure. smoking as we all know can lead to diseases for the smoker, and is also bad as secondhand smoke, and as the mother breathes this, the baby also recieves it as air, which means the baby has potential for future health problems.

This article is important because by knowing how much the baby has been exposed to tobacco smoke, it also shoes the baby's potential for health problems. By knowing this in the first few days pf the newborn's life, a mother can know that she needs to precent any more tobacco smoke around her infant as it might affect her baby's health, and hers.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100827082153.htm