Ignoring a problem isn't 'being cool' and taking precautions to protect your child isn't being a show off. Some of the biggest problems with smoking and pregnancy do not present until the latter half of the child's life. They may appear perfectly healthy initially but smoking while pregnant/around a pregnant woman may be shaving decades off the end of the child's life.

As for smoking being an addiction, come on. Yes cigarettes are physically addictive, just like alcohol, heroin, cocaine, etc. But most addicts eventually recover from their addiction when they really want to. It absolutely is a choice, not an easy choice but a choice all the same.

Its not likely to do any damage to baby but prolonged exposure to 2nd hand smoke is obviously not good for you. If its a one off I wouldnt worry. I would just pop outside if they are smoking (or ask them to smoke outside) x

Dont understand why thats relevant given that "back in the day" the risks werent as documented as they are now. I stopped smoking about 7 months ago when I found out i was pregnant and whilst I miss it even now and my parents both smoke but there isnt a chance in hell that I would expose my baby or a child of any age in a room full of smoke just because my mum or grandma did and I dont seem to have been affected by it. Thankfully my parents wouldnt dream of putting anyone else (and especially not any child) at risk because of their habit. They did it when I was young because they didnt know any better and 2nd hand smoke wasnt something that was known to be a risk. x

I absolutely second that it's a choice. I used to smoke as a teenager and decided to stop cold turkey cus I was only doing it out of curiosity. I was in no way "addicted" you can wean yourself off anything if you put your mind to it.

There is no way my baby (before or after birth) will be around other people's smoke. The vast majority of the harmful chemicals are invisible, and spread well beyond the cloud of visible smoke.
leaving the room while the smokers smoke won't actually do very much to reduce your (and your baby's) exposure to the poisons being produced ... they are contained in gasses and they will travel through the tiniest of gaps.

And if this makes me uncool, then so be it! My job is to protect my baby, not to appear cool - and I can't see what is holier than thou about that. I have no issues whatsoever with anyone ruining their own health, but I do not have to accept them blighting mine, or my child's.

I also wouldn't be swayed by a one-off argument: I would be thinking about after the baby is born and starting as I mean to go on. It will be so much easier to insist after your baby is born, if you have done the ground work now. Otherwise a one-off easily becomes a two-off and a three-off

My FIL and husband smoke, but DH makes sure he is no where near me and will not let anyone smoke near me either (he goes outside). Everyone on his side of the family smokes outside so I don't have to worry about it, but if anyone (even my own family) refused to go outside to smoke while I visited while pregnant, I simply would tell them I'm not coming over.

I'm not talking about forcing them to refrain from smoking in their house all day before I arrive, but if they can't be bothered to go outside for 5 minutes here and there rather than endanger the life or birth defects of their unborn grandchild, then I can't be bothered to visit them either. We all know what the effects are by now. No one disagrees that smoking is bad for you and especially a growing fetus, so knowing that and blatantly disregarding that shows they have no concern for the baby.

And before people jump on me and say I'm being judgy, this is coming from someone who had her last cigarette the day before my BFP, and when I was smoking in a smoking spot outdoor (with an ashtray next to me and a plaque that said "SMOKING AREA") I would still put it out if a family with small children approached me.

I don't think I am show off because I want to keep my lungs clear of smoke. It is a health hazard that I can avoid and so I will. I am also allergic to the smoke and so I break out in hives when I have to walk through a group of smokers hovering around the doors of resturaunts. There have also been studies that show that women who smoke during pregnancy have not only long term effects to their children but they are at a higher risk for premature births and low birth weights which can be dangerous.

Your not overreacting at all! It's something to worry about 2nd/3rd hand smoke is really dangerous...

For sure...listen I smoke yes but I did not smoke during my first pregnancy and I am not smoking during this pregnancy either. Even after my first daughter was born I do not let her go anywhere near anyone who smokes. I smoke outside and both my mother and father in laws smoke in there house...I never take my daughter over there because of this. If I am smoking going into the grocery store I make sure that my huby and my daughter are way ahead of me.... I know some people from work who have actually smoked during their pregnancy (not good for the baby) but there babies have come out completely okay. I dont know its your call....

This isn't aimed at you as you were and are responsible about smoking in pregnancy but nobody can say this for sure. Smoking in pregnancy alters the DNA of the child in a process called DNA methylation, an epigenetic mechanism in which small chemical compounds are added to DNA. So a child may appear fine in the years after it's birth but may be more prone to cancers, cardiovascular disease and lower pulmonary function later in life as the DNA alteration changes the function of certain genes.

And just as seriously, not only can the impact of smoking in pregnancy be later in life problems for the child but also in the children of the child. Smoking in pregnancy can damage your grandchildren as the DNA alteration can pass to the next generation. As problematic as we realised smoking in pregnancy was a couple of decades ago, recent and current studies have and are showing that the problems are much, much more serious than was first assumed.