Findings in a recent study have warned that pregnant women working post their eighth month of pregnancy are not only putting their life at risk but are also putting the life of the unborn in distress. Rather, researchers have warned that the health consequences are similar to the ones administered in case of smoking during pregnancy.

It has been concerned that women who continue working during their later stages of pregnancy are more likely to give birth to babies, who weigh less and are small.

It was discovered that mothers, who worked during their ninth month of pregnancy: their babies weighed 227gms less than the babies, whose mothers discontinued working between the sixth and eighth month.

Researchers at the University of Essex compiled the data obtained from three different studies, two of which included information of an estimated 31,000 mothers from UK and one study carried out in US was also considered.

Study author Professor Marco Francesconi said, “We know low birth weight is a predictor of many things that happen later, including lower chances of completing school successfully, lower wages and higher mortality”.

He added that the study tries to highlight that in order to avoid such problems, women should give more preference to their babies, instead of their work.