Carbon monoxide infant

True. Nicotine, carbon monoxide and other harmful chemicals from the burning tobacco travel in the mother s bloodstream and can reach the foetus. This can result in impaired development and reduced birth weight. Tobacco smoke can also be harmful to young children and babies (sudden infant death syndrome). 

O Sullivan BP. 1983. Carbon monoxide poisoning in an infant exposed to a kerosene heater. J Pediatr 103(2) 249-251. 

Carbon monoxide is a clear, tasteless, odorless gas that is produced from incomplete combustion. Exposure to carbon monoxide can cause headaches fatigue dizziness nausea permanent damage to the brain, central nervous system, and heart and even death by reducing the amount of oxygen red blood cells carry. Infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with heart or respiratory problems are most susceptible to carbon monoxide poisoning. Because you can t see, smell, or taste carbon monoxide, it has to be tested for with a monitor or an alarm, which are now legally required in many states. 

Bartoletti, A.L., Stevenson, D.K., Ostrander, C.R., Johnson, J.D. (1979). Pulmonary excretion of carbon monoxide in the human infant as an index of bilirubin production. I. Effects of gestational and postnatal age and some common neonatal abnormalities. J. Pediatr. 94 952-5. 

Fallstrom, S.P. (1968). Endogenous formation of carbon monoxide in newborn infants. IV. On the relation between the blood carhoxyhaemoglohin concentration and the pulmonary elimination of carbon monoxide. Acta Paediatr. Scand. 57 321-9. 

Ostrander, C.R., Cohen, R.S., Hopper, A.O., Cowan, B.E., Stevens, G.B., Stevenson, D.K. (1982). Paired determination of blood oarboxyhemoglobin concentration and carbon monoxide excretion rate in term and preterm infants. J. Lab. Clin. Med. 100 745-55. 

Shi Y, Pan F, Li H, et al Role of carbon monoxide and nitric oxide in newborn infants with postasphyxial hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Pediatrics 106 1447-1451,2000... 

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