How migrant mothers pick up bad health habits from native Britons

Researchers found that the longer foreigners spend here, the more likely they are to smoke when pregnant.

They also tend to give up breastfeeding more quickly than they would have in their home countries.

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Child health researchers at University College London interviewed 8,588 mothers about their behaviour in and after pregnancy.

Just over 2,000 of the women came from ethnic minority groups. These women, the researchers found, looked after their health and that of their babies better than their white counterparts.

Around 17 per cent smoked or drank in pregnancy, compared with 37 per cent for the indigenous population.

Migrants from ethnic minorities were also more likely to breastfeed - 86 per cent compared with 69 per cent for the native group.

The picture changed, however, when the researchers examined the figures for first and second-generation immigrants.

They were found to be more likely to smoke in pregnancy, less likely to breastfeed and quicker to switch to bottlefeeding than recent migrants.

For every additional five years spent in the UK, immigrant mothers were 32 per cent more likely to smoke during pregnancy and 5 per cent less likely to breastfeed for four months or more.

Professor Catherine Law, the paediatric epidemiologist who led the study, said health professionals should act on the findings.

"National policies should promote beneficial health behaviours among all mothers," she added.

"Mothers are now recommended to avoid all alcohol during pregnancy and breastfeed exclusively for at least six months, which is consistent with polices in other resource-rich countries.

"The UK government also has a target to reduce smoking during pregnancy."

She said little was known about how Western cultures can affect changes in health behaviour among migrants.

In an editorial accompanying the research, Krista Perreira, a health policy expert at the University of North Carolina, said growing global migration makes the study especially timely.

"Smoking and alcohol consumption patterns among women in developing countries will have consequences for medical providers throughout Europe and North America," she added.

"Thus, not surprisingly, research on migration and maternal health has found that foreign-born women who move to Europe or the U.S. from developing countries with historically lower levels of smoking and alcohol consumption continue to be less likely to smoke and drink after migration."

But more time in the host country where there is easier access to alcohol and tobacco results in their greater use in pregnancy, she added.

The research went online today in the British Medical Journal.