Vaping while pregnant is safe for both babies and mothers, rule experts amid growing fears of dangers of e-cigs

Mothers-to-be wanting to quit smoking can safely indulge in vaping to beat their nicotine cravings without fear of harming their baby, experts claim.

Scientists have long debated the safety merits of using e-cigarettes in pregnancy, with some studies warning of an increased risk of miscarriages. 

But UK researchers now say vaping is safe for both women and babies in pregnancy based on a study of over 1,100 women.

Experts at Queen Mary University of London used data from 23 hospitals and one stop-smoking service that treated mothers-to-be.

Women were given the option of switching to vapes and nicotine patches instead of traditional tobacco products like cigarettes.

Of the group, 47 per cent opted to vape and 21 per cent used the patches. 

The study then compared the pregnancy outcomes in the women to see if vaping or using patches increased the risk of adverse pregnancy events or poor outcomes, such as a miscarriage.

Nicotine levels in the participants were monitored through saliva samples taken at the start and end of the study. 

Any respiratory symptoms, as well as the birth weight, and other health data concerning the babies was also recorded.

Professor Peter Hajek, an author of the study and the lead researcher from the Wolfson Institute of Population Health at Queen Mary, said the results suggested vapes could be used safely in pregnancy to help people quit smoking. 

‘E-cigarettes helped pregnant smokers quit without posing any detectable risks to pregnancy compared with stopping smoking without further nicotine use,’ he said. 

‘The harms to pregnancy from smoking, in late pregnancy at least, seem to be due to other chemicals in tobacco smoke rather than nicotine.’

However, the authors of the paper said that while the results should alleviate some of the concerns about using nicotine replacements while pregnant, further studies are needed to verify their results. 

While vapes are accepted as a safer alternative for pregnant smokers, nonsmokers are advised not to start using the devices during pregnancy due to limited research on their safety. 

The authors added that another limitation was the small size of the study, meaning some rarer pregnancy complications could have been missed. 

The study was published in the journal Addiction. 

Smoking in pregnancy is still an issue in Britain, with 7.5 per cent of new mothers in England smoking at the time of delivery, according to the latest NHS data.

This is despite smoking doubling the risk of suffering a stillbirth and increasing the risk of a miscarriage by a third.

These risks mean medics are keen to get pregnant women to stop smoking, either stopping entirely or using a nicotine replacement such as a vape or patches. 

However, the NHS has so far been reluctant to dish out the devices to expectant mothers directly.

Unlike nicotine patches, vapes are not available on prescription for pregnant women.

While smoking has universally been accepted to be dangerous to a baby during pregnancy, the impact of vaping has been less clear.

Although widely viewed as safer than smoking, many medics say the overall long-term health effects of vaping still remain a mystery. 

Doctors have expressed fear there could be a wave of lung disease, dental issues and even cancer in the coming decades in people who took up the habit at a young age.

Last year, leading paediatricians warned children were being hospitalised with vaping-induced breathing difficulties amid a ‘disturbing’ epidemic of the habit among young people.

NHS figures also show a rise in the number of children admitted to hospital due to vaping. 

In October ministers launched a consultation on how to protect children from underage vaping while still encouraging adult smokers to use the devices to quit.

Among the options is a potential ban or restriction on disposable vapes – which are known to be the first choice among children — and if more needs to be done on pricing.

Health campaigners have repeatedly said that offering e-cigarettes for ‘pocket money prices’ encourages children to take up vaping.

Other consultation proposals include restricting the flavours and descriptions of vapes, so they are no longer targeted at children, putting vapes out of the sight of youngsters and regulating vape packaging and how products are presented.

Another consultation suggestion is for on-the-spot fines for retailers who sell to children and greater measures to tackle online sales.

Figures show one in five children have now tried vaping despite it being illegal for under-18s, while the number of children using vapes regularly has tripled in the past three years.

MailOnline previously exposed the predatory tactics some sweet shops use to sell e-cigs to kids.

Vaping has taken off in Britain overall with figures from the Office for National Statistics showing around 4.5million Brits vape daily or occasionally — a rise of some 500,000 in 12 months.

While smokers in the UK are encouraged to switch to vapes other countries are trying to restrict the sale of the devices altogether.

Australia recently announcing it was banning imports of disposable vapes from January as it tries to fight off a nicotine addiction in children. 

Meanwhile the World Health Organization has called for called for all flavoured vapes to be banned worldwide and treated similarly to cigarettes.