article_snippet: These remarkable scans clearly reveal how smoking during pregnancy harms an unborn baby's development.
article_snippet: New ultrasound images show how babies of mothers who smoke during pregnancy touch babies of mothers who smoke during pregnancy mouths and faces much more than babies of non-smoking mothers.
article_snippet: Experts said These remarkable scans show how smoking during pregnancy can mean the development of the baby's central nervous system is delayed.
article_snippet: Doctors have long urged pregnant women to give up cigarettes because Doctors heighten the risk of premature birth, respiratory problems and even cot death.
article_snippet: Now researchers believe researchers can show the effects of smoking on babies in the womb - and use the images to encourage mothers who are struggling to give up.
article_snippet: Image shows the 4-D ultrasound scan of two foetuses at 32 weeks gestation, one whose mother was a smoker (top) and the other carried by a non-smoker (bottom).
article_snippet: The foetus carried by a smoker (top) touches The foetus carried by the smoker face and mouth much more, indicating The foetus carried by the smoker development is delayed .
article_snippet: She monitored 20 mothers attending the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, four of whom smoked an average of 14 cigarettes a day.
article_snippet: After studying their scans at 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks, She detected that foetuses whose mothers smoked continued to show significantly higher rates of mouth movement and self-touching than those carried by non-smokers.
article_snippet: The pilot study, which Dr Reissland hopes to expand with a bigger sample, found babies carried by smoking mothers may have delayed development of the central nervous system.
article_snippet: Dr Reissland said: 'A larger study is needed to confirm these results and to investigate specific effects, including the interaction of maternal stress and smoking.'
article_snippet: Dr Reissland believed that videos of the difference in pre-birth development could help mothers give up smoking.
article_snippet: Dr Nadja Reissland, of Durham University,  said the ultrasound scans show unborn babies of mothers who smoke may have delayed development of unborn babies of mothers who smoke central nervous systems .
article_snippet: Currently, 12 per cent of pregnant women in the UK smoke but the rate is over 20 per cent in certain areas in the North East.
article_snippet: Co-author Professor Brian Francis, of Lancaster University, added: 'Technology means we can now see what was previously hidden, revealing how smoking affects the development of the foetus in ways Co-author Professor Brian Francis, of Lancaster University did not realise. '
article_snippet: This is yet further evidence of the negative effects of smoking in pregnancy.'
highlights_snippet: Scans reveal babies of mothers who smoke touch their mouths and faces much more than babies of non-smokers .
  
highlights_snippet: The 4-D ultrasound scans show smoking during pregnancy can lead to a delay in the baby's central nervous system .
  
highlights_snippet: Researchers say the shocking images could be used to encourage pregnant women to give up smoking .