eMedicineLive

Third hand smoking can affect gestating and newborn infants. If you are pregnant avoid smokers and after delivery limit your newborn child's interaction with smokers.

Extensive research shows the deleterious effects of second hand and third hand smoking. While second hand smoking is a well known terminology, third hand smoking refers to toxins from tobacco smoke that linger in the environment hours to days after exposure to smoking. The toxins settle in the clothes, carpets, tables, bedsheets and other materials. Third hand smoke causes deleterious effects on newborn babies, infants, gestating babies and children. The developing brain is extremely susceptible to tobacco toxins and animal studies have suggested increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome with tobacco smoke exposure.

Now coming to practical affairs, everyone of us has lot of friends and relatives who may be smokers. They may fondly play with your children when they visit you. Even worse one of the parent may be a smoker. You can try the following strategies to protect your children

1) If you have pregnant women, infant or children at home, make sure that all the adult members do not smoke at your home.
2) Limit the interaction of your new born baby with relatives and friends who smoke.
3) If you are pregnant and if your office collegue is a smoker, you may request for a desk as far away from him as possible.
4) Avoid visiting restaurants that allow smoking with your pregnant wife or young children.
5) If your driver drives your kids to school, make sure you get a non-smoking drivers.
6) Never ever allow anyone to smoke in your car. The toxins would get deposited in seat fabric and would affect your children. 

 Reference

http://journals.lww.com/co-pulmonarymedicine/Abstract/publishahead/Immediate_and_short_term_consequences_of.99831.aspx
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-third-hand-smoke