Did you smoke during a pregnancy?

[pickymicky]

I have heard somewhere around 40% of pregnant mothers have smoked at some point during a pregnancy. Seems like a lot considering I didn't thing 40% of people smoked.

If you did smoke, what were the problems that you faced afterwards with your baby?

 

[Celesse]

40% of pregnant mothers have smoked??? In what decade? I actually don't really know any smokers any more. Most people gave up years ago. That is either a very old stat from the 1960's or perhaps you got it slightly wrong and only 40% of women who where smokers before conception have smoked at some point in their pregnancy.

The risks of smoking to unborn babies are well documented. Anything someone can tell in this post on their personal experience is just anecdotal evidence and no statistical significance. You are also more likely to get responses from people who "got away" with smoking in pregnancy, than those who encountered problems.

Risks to baby of smoking in pregnancy:

• is at increased risk of stillbirth
• is more likely to be born early (prematurely; before week 37 of the pregnancy), which can cause feeding, breathing and health problems
• won’t cope as well with any birth complications
• is more likely to be born underweight. On average, babies of smokers are 200g (8oz) lighter than other babies. A low birth weight adds to the risks of stillbirth, and makes your baby weaker and at greater risk of disease with a higher risk of hearing loss, learning difficulties and sight problems as well as cerebral palsy
• is more likely to have a problem keeping warm
• is at increased risk of cot death
• is more likely to get infections as a child, such as inflammation of the middle ear, and have health conditions that require hospital treatment, such as asthma
• is more likely to smoke when they’re older

 

[Pearls18]

I would question that statistic, perhaps it was 40% of smoking women have smoked in pregnancy? As you say I doubt even that percentage of women smoke in this day in age.

I'm not saying this to scaremonger in the slightest it may just be a complete coincidence, I only know 3 women who admitted to smoking pregnancy on a personal level, one gave birth to a small baby (5lb as far as I'm aware he was otherwise ok), one had a missed miscarriage picked up at the first scan, the other had a second trimester miscarriage, I have NO idea if it was related of course and I would never say anything to them it's not my business, but it is strange that the only women I know to have admitted (I'm sure others don't) to smoking had those issues and it's always stayed with me, I have no idea how much they smoked or as I say if it was a coincidence or not.

 

[redlemonade]

That statistic definitely seems off. I would imagine it means 40% of smokers continued smoking during pregnancy..? But even then, that seems high.

I don't have experience smoking at all, during pregnancy or otherwise. But my mum smoked when she was pregnant with me and I feel I've been affected - I suffered from asthma as a child, I get recurrent ear/nose/throat problems that I'm sure are connected (it gets worse when I'm around smokers - doctor confirmed) and the biggest outcome was that its turned me into a massively outspoken anti-smoking person My mum reckons she's one of those that 'got away' with smoking during pregnancy because we (her kids) 'turned out fine'

 

[hels08]

people probably arent going to like what i say but please just bear in mind this isnt my opinion just what i have seen. Everyone in my family who smoke has continued to do so in pregnancy, i am a non smoker and i had the smallest baby at 6lb 3oz, the smokers babies were all 8-10lbs. When my mum was having me she was outside the labour ward having a cigarette WITH the midwives, ive never had a health problem, never been in hospital other than to have my children. My uncle has bad asthma (his mum doesnt and never has smoked, neither does he) and his doctor recommended injections of a nicotine based solution to help with breathing! If you think back to when everyone smoked heavily in pregnancy ie the 50's and 60's there were no more small babies/stillbirths/miscarriages than there are now

 

[Celesse]

people probably arent going to like what i say but please just bear in mind this isnt my opinion just what i have seen. Everyone in my family who smoke has continued to do so in pregnancy, i am a non smoker and i had the smallest baby at 6lb 3oz, the smokers babies were all 8-10lbs. When my mum was having me she was outside the labour ward having a cigarette WITH the midwives, ive never had a health problem, never been in hospital other than to have my children. My uncle has bad asthma (his mum doesnt and never has smoked, neither does he) and his doctor recommended injections of a nicotine based solution to help with breathing! If you think back to when everyone smoked heavily in pregnancy ie the 50's and 60's there were no more small babies/stillbirths/miscarriages than there are now

Errr.... yes there were. Infant mortality was higher. Average birth weight was lower. And the only reason that the miscarriage rate would be recorded as higher today is people are testing earlier. If I didn't have a bunch of housework to do and a nursery run I could go find you a helluvalot of evidence to prove that smoking in pregnancy adversely effects birth weight, infant mortality rates and miscarriage rates and that these were higher in the 50's and 60's. The only one that might be hard to prove is the miscarriage rate is lower today than in the 60's but that comes down to the fact we now test a lot earlier and detect a lot of miscarriages that would have previously been missed.

 

[Pearls18]

I believe SIDS is a lot lower these days than in those decades as well and while there will be a number of reasons to this I would be surprised if the knowledge of the effect of second hand smoke nowadays hasn't in someway contributed.

 

[TicToc]

I know one person who continued smoking during pregnancy, but did cut down to only a few cigarettes a day. She had a plump healthy baby.

I don't like the idea of smoking during pregnancy at all.

I used to smoke a few a day for a couple of years. During that time I got pregnant twice and had miscarriages at 6 weeks. Both times I quit as soon as I found out I was pregnant, just after the 4 week mark. I did/do also have a bunch of health problems that made me high risk so I can't say it was the smoking alone that caused them. This time while pregnant I had quit smoking about 5 months before conception and started to get some medical answers and a handle on some of my other health issues.

I think smoking is one layer of toxins in our modern world that affect people, babies, and pregnancies. Our food is full of chemicals, our body and cleaning products are full of chemicals, collectively we are on tons of prescription medications, and on and on...

 

[claudinator]

My mothers a very heavy smoker she had me at 44 smoked 60 cigarettes a day I weighed 5'7lb and she told me they smoked on the wards back then.
None of us had allergies and her biggest baby was 8,2lb.
my husband mother is a 20 a day smoker he weighed 6lbs she had 4 kids again no allergies her biggest was 7,9lbs.
My mam had 8 of us and smoked heavily, my brothers wife smoked heavy on all 4 personally I think it's disgusting.
My husbands sister is a midwife she said you see allot of pregnant women smoking, the midwives and the consultants so you just don't know.

 

[ltrip84]

I quit smoking when I got pregnant, but I know of 3 people who smoked throughout their pregnancy.

My mother didn't smoke while pregnant with my brother, but smoked with me. He was of average birth weight and had no health problems. I was an average birth weight but had allergies and asthma growing up but grew out of most of it.

OH's mother didn't smoke with him (he's the oldest) and smoked with his brother and again, although they both were health weights, OH doesn't have any health problems, but his brother has asthma.

I work with a girl that smoked throughout her pregnancy with her daughter and her daughter is perfectly health and was an avg weight.

 

[kylesmom]

I am an ex smoker (going on 6 years) hate the smell of cigarettes now!!!!!

My mother had 4 kids, heavy smoker her whole life, the smallest was me at 8lbs 2oz and the biggest was the last kid at 9lbs 13oz (she heavily smoked while pregnant with the last). Not saying that you should smoke through pregnancy!

Everyone's situation is different. And every pregnancy is different.

 

[smallpeanut]

My mil smoked through both pregnancies. Both baby's healthy and no problems however my other half does smoke now himself. I was a smoker until I fell pregnant with dd. I craved once during the 9 months and that was at around 37 weeks when I had some very bad family news and I was distraught. LO is fine. Never carried on smoking since, even though my partner has.

 

[FeistyMom]

Grandma smoked while pregnant with my mom (she was 11 of 11), mom was low birthweight (either just above or just below 5 lbs, I forget), but seemingly healthy. She has developed lots of respiratory related problems although hard to say if it was more related to smoking during pregnancy or the amount of second hand smoke she was exposed to as a baby and young child. By the time she was 10, she had breathing issues so bad grandma quit smoking and wouldn't let grandpa smoke in the car anymore; mom still has respiratory problems and tons of allergies/intolerances, and a serious thyroid condition which also impacted several other members of her family (non-hereditary). But cause/effect is hard to establish!

On dad's side, grandma never smoked, but grandpa did throughout pregnancy and his childhood. Dad had no significant allergies or health issues until he developed brain cancer, cause unknown.

Personally, I smoked socially as a young adult, but it never really 'stuck' with me, so not smoking since falling pregnant with DD1 hasn't really been an issue. OH is a longtime smoker though, but he quit while I was pregnant with DD1, and after several relapses has switched over to vapor/e-cigs. No known respiratory issues with any of our LOs.

I do know several women who have smoked during their pregnancies, and the results have been completely mixed, ranging from totally normal outcome (healthy, average size baby) to absolute tragedy (late term miscarriage, severe underweight babies at full term, still birth, and life-threatening respiratory and allergy issues). Very hard to have any idea as to whether or not smoking actually caused any of those issues, or exacerbated problems that would already have existed, or is completely unrelated.

Personally, while a lot of research has been done, it seems like more is still necessary to really understand what impact nicotine itself has on the developing fetus as well as the additional chemicals involved in smoking before we have a better idea.

In the meanwhile, we do know that for most people, smoking is damaging to our health so cutting back and/or quitting is a great idea. Not always feasible, but for our own good at least attempting seems like the right idea, pregnant or not. Plus I want my OH to be healthy enough to enjoy his grandkids someday, so I'm keen on taking any steps we can to ensure we have enough health to be there for the big moments!! I think all the emphasis on impact to the fetus misses that point - they are only growing inside us for 9 months, but I wanna be available and healthy for a lot longer period of their lives!

 

[emicakess]

This is a huge debate wow!
Heres my two cents:
(This is just my personal story, I am not sure if any of this is related or coinsidence) My mom smoked through both of her pregnancies and claims to have two healthy babies. My brother and I were both in the 8 lb range. I have had really bad ear infections and issues throughout my life. My brother has asthma but my parents and him claim its from growing up in a house with a wood burning wood stove and no other source of heat. My dad also smoked in the house so that may have something to do with it. My brother and I both started smoking as mid teens. I started when I was 16.

My last pregnancy was not planned and I tried to quit when I found out but couldnt and I cut down to 1 or 2 a day. I had people all around me telling me that I should quit but its okay if I dont because they smoked and had healthy babies. I still felt horribley guilty but couldnt quit all the way. I had a missed miscarriage at 11 weeks but I have NO idea if it was due to that. I dont like to think it was because I dont like to think it was my fault even though I feel like it might have been... Anyway since my mmc I wanted to quit badly! I cut down in the summer, then the fall I was only smoking when I would go out on weekends. Then in October I quit completely and I never want to go back!
So anyway, I am not sure if any of that is related but thats my story, hope it helps. Moral of story: ITS NOT WORTH IT not even a little bit! I try not to judge other peoples decisions but my advice is that its not worth it

 

[deafgal]

I didn't smoke but my dad smoked around my mom when she was pregnant with all of us . But she did not smoke.

Small birth runs in family , smokers or not. Aunts , cousins, siblings...we all tend to be 6 lbs or less and rarely 8 lbs or above.

 

[Rainbow gems]

With DS i just turned 17 and was a smoker i tried quitting and tried!! Every smoke i had felt bad but its hard to quit but i eventually did until i had him, when he was born he was healthy but only 5lbs and he was 3 weeks early,
this time in 6 weeks and have basically quit!
i know some people won't understand.

 

[MissRhead]

I'm not proud of it at all but I smoked throughout my pregnancy with my son, I was 18 years old, naive and honestly just really stupid. Luckily he was born healthy and had a birthweight of 8lb4. I have smoked since a really young age and never even properly tried to quit. I honestly dreaded stopping this time around, I didn't think I'd be able to do it, I started patches, had them for a couple of days then just stopped them and have been smoke free ever since, 4 months now and I honestly don't ever want to smoke again!

 

[WantingABubba]

I quit smoking the second I found out I was pregnant and actively avoid smoke now. I leave the room and don't return if people try to smoke with me in there and refuse to stop (it's happened, sadly), I ask people not to smoke in the same room as me and avoid it out on the street. I think it's selfish to smoke during pregnancy and hate it when people try to justify it with anecdotal stories of how their brother's wife's mother's sister smoked with her ten kids and they're all strapping big fellas with no health problems. Common sense, statistics and medical knowledge says that smoke around fetus' and babies = no.

 

[xolynn]

I smoked 1-2 cigarettes a day throughout my pregnancy(which is severely cut back from what i was pre pregnancy). Am I proud of it? Of course not...Anyways.. My son was born through induction at 41 weeks and was perfectly healthy weighing 7lbs 1 oz.

 

[Mellybelle]

I smoked during some of my pregnancies.
First pregnancy, DD was induced at 41 weeks, weighing just under 6lbs. Second pregnancy was ectopic, 3rd was very early miscarriage, 4th pregnancy was DS1 born at 38 weeks weight 6lb11oz. I had cut down on my cigarettes, but continued to smoke. 5th pregnancy I was still smoking and lost my son at 15 weeks. I quit immediately and have never touched a cigarette since.
Pregnancy number 6 ended at 14 weeks (a little girl). Number 7 was DS2 who was induced at 40 weeks and born very sickly with an infection. Spent a week in NICU on IV antibiotics, oxygen and phototherapy lights.
Currently pregnant with pregnancy number 8, 39 weeks. Baby is measuring in 75th centile, so another big one.

Do I know if smoking is what caused my miscarriages?? No, I don't and as I also lost a little girl in second tri while I wasn't smoking, i'll never know if its something I caused. I do know that I increased my risks while smoking, and the guilt is something I have to live with every day.