The harmful effects of smoking during pregnancy can be seen in tiny movements in the faces of unborn babies, British research has found. Researchers from the Durham and Lancaster universities say that 4D ultrasound scans show the effects of smoking on babies in the womb and hope they will be used to encourage mothers-to-be to kick the habit.Dr Nadja Reissland has studied 4D scan images and recorded thousands of tiny movements in the womb. She monitored 20 women attending the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, four of whom smoked an average of 14 cigarettes a day.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.Foetuses usually move their mouths and touch themselves less the closer they get to birth as they gain more control. The pilot study indicated that the development of the central nervous system of babies carried by smokers might be delayed.The research has been published in the journal Acta Paediatrica.Reissland, from Durham's psychology department, said: "A larger study is needed to confirm these results and to investigate specific effects, including the interaction of maternal stress and smoking."All the babies in the study were born healthy.Co-author Prof Brian Francis, of Lancaster University, said: "Technology means we can now see what was previously hidden, revealing how smoking affects the development of the foetus in ways we did not realise. This is yet further evidence of the negative effects of smoking in pregnancy."All babies in the study were born healthy and were of normal weight. ..