Smoking during pregnancy?

[Aidan's Mummy]

I think it depends if she is cutting down or not. Some people can go cold turkey and they have the will power to do this, others can't and really struggle. Stress DOES have a negative effect on a baby and can cause problems eg. premature labour. As long as a mother is cutting down with a view to quit then she shouldn't be judged she needs to be supported in quitting. Otherwsie without support they may not quit at all. Of course if an expectant mother continues to smoke and doesn't intend to quit then that is very selfish and irresponisble x

 

[princess_vix]

agree Aidans mummy...BUT cigarette smoke is more likely to damage the child or harm the child than stress.

As it says somewhere on the forum about things that people think cause problems,miscarriages ect.

Ill try find it x

 

[princess_vix]

I know smoking is bad in pregnancy and in general. But some people cannot cope without it. I mean, wouldn't it be better to smoke then go off the rails? It's different for everyone. And each to their own. But i just think that in some cases it's probably safer for LO stresswise etc if they didn't give up.
I mean Marijuana is much worse, and i've had people trying to tell me it it less harmful for their LO's then Cigarettes.

Please tell me this is a joke right?

You can not cope without a cigarette??? IT's not gonna kill you..I'm a heavy smoker now and was before i fell pregnant and i coped i didnt go off the 'rails'!!!

Jeez i'm sorry but by cutting out smoking is not gonna harm you unborn child and people who thinks this must be ignorant as the facts state on the NHS website cutting out helps your babys blood supply

Firstly. Dont direct nastyness at me. I wasn't even talking about me i was meaning a friend of mine is like this. Don't judge

Okay well seriously though im not being nasty it just f*cks me off royaly when people make facts like these up.

 

[princess_vix]

Sometimes after your miscarriage you will remember straining to lift something, worry over the three martinis you drank before you took the pregnancy test, or wonder if you should have still been working out. None of this matters. Miscarriage happens, whether we do our best to prevent it or not. Here is a list of commonly blamed factors that are NOT causes of miscarriage.

These things do NOT cause miscarriage:


from miscarriage section and no i know its not just miscarriage that we're talking about but the september 11th example is a brilliant one as im sure not puffing on a cigarette for 9 months will not give u the stress like famillies involved in 9/11

 

[babyjan]

i think smoking during pregnancy is extremely irresponsible. Your child's health should be your #1 concern. I think its disgusting when i see a pregnant woman walking down the street smoking. Just my opinion.

I totally agree, I find it absolutely revolting to see a pregnant women walking down the street smoking it just looks incredibly WRONG!

 

[GemmaLeanne]

Well im not gna lie..
I smoked before i was pregnant with LO#1 and quit cold turkey found it quite easy. I picked up a cigarette again after LO was born (stupid i know!) and at the moment i am still smoking. I tried to quit cold turkey this time round but my hormones are alot worse this time and i was having panick attacks the lot (mix hormones, cooking cleaning and running around zombiefied from pregnancy induced tiredness after a 7 month old whos teething and wack a whole bunch of nicotine withdrawal ontop youve got a concoction for trouble!) I have however cut down now to just 3 a day, which as of saturday will be 2, as of wednesday will be 1 and fingers crossed by next sat will be 0.

people do whats best for them, I am seeing a smoking cessation midwife at my local hospital who has condoned my ideas of cutting a cigarette out every 3-4 days as a method that works for me.

so whilst i certainly do NOT agree with smoking during pregnancy, i can see both sides here.

what really does rile me though is when people just take the ''oh itll be fine to keep smoking'' attitude. and also when non smokers try to judge a smokers efforts when they really have no idea.

 

[Blizzard]

That's very true, without the patches I'm on I'd be a nightmare right now. I know I should be off nicotine completely but it's really hard. Anyone who can quit straight off is worthy of an award haha. Anyone who is taking steps to cut down, or like me who is using nicotine replacements is also trying hard. The girl mentioned at the start of the thread needs support and help to stop.

Good luck to everyone h&h 9 months xxx

 

[AirForceWife7]

Eeeek. I was always told that your child's health comes before yours. Even if it means giving up something you like (Us moms do it every day!) I have no problem with people who smoke in general, but while pregnant? That's extremely irresponsible.

 

[MonstHer]

To think, my Aunt remembers smoking with her OB doctor during a prenatal appointment!
How times have changed, and not so very long ago either.

By the way, everyone justifies behavior they do. EVERYONE. Not just smokers.
I smoked up until the night I found I was pregnant. It wasn't hard for me at that time, I think because I was in such shock. I just stopped. mostly I think because my mother smoked all her life, and I subconsciously didn't want my child viewing me that way. I had tried to quit several times before then but had only made it a couple of days before giving in. : ( I remember the shame I felt that the stupid paper stick had that much control over me.
Denial and addiction can be very very powerful. In my experience smoking is coupled with a black and white outlook. A cycle of recovery and remissions like any other drug.
People bitching at me didn't change me, I had to. I just did it in secret or didn't mention it to them, constantly washing my hands and mouth out, spraying myself with parfume.

OP, you can say things to your friend all you want, but she won't quit unless she wants to. If she's being honest with her medical team, they'll give her more of an earful that she's obviously ignoring anyway.
Also, it can be very very easy to ignore the effects of smoking.
You don't see it, meh, it's not affecting me now. I can quit before it does any damage.
These are the things that go through smoker's heads. Smoker's tell themselves what they want to hear.
Back off and don't shame her, she'll only avoid you and lie. Does this make her a horrible disgusting person? I don't think so. Only very sad. : (

 

[willowtree]

I smoked all through my pregnancy with my DS ...he's 13 yrs old now and hes fine ...yes i still smoke during this pregnancy but i have cut down on them ...for people to say its disgusting and irresponable are probably right!

 

[tryin4baby]

im reading through this read and some of the people here are very unreasonable.

as long as your trying to quit smoking then i think good on you and well done! i know its extremely hard and i dont think i would of been able to do it without having morning sickness because thats what helped me quit.

the thing i dont like is when people know its harming their baby but decide to do absolutely nothing about it and carry on smoking.

by the way, just to let everyone know whos trying to quit, nicotine replacements are still not good to use during pregnancy but obviously they are much much better than smoking a cigerette itself.
so well done to everyone who has quit smoking whilst pregnant and well done to everyone trying to quit.

 

[Leopard]

I'm slowly quitting, I have cut back alot more then I thought I could, but with the chemical imbalance in my brain my family doesnt want me to quit for the simple reason the nicotine keeps me reasonable. But I was a 50+ smokes a day smoker before bub and now I'm lucky to smoke 10 a day, so its a huge cut down for me and the US shows bub is healthy, her lungs have developed perfectly. So I believe everyone should make the effort to cut down, but I think people shouldnt judge, it is there own choice.

And with the price of nicotine substitutes it is actually cheaper to smoke; and on my income i cannot afford to substitute, so I've done my best at cutting down.

 

[Elizax]

I smoked for 5 years pre-pregnancy and I'd easily go through 20 a day.
When I found out I was pregnant I smoked for the first few weeks, cutting down day by day to about 4, and after about 3 1/2 weeks I went cold turkey.

It was EXTREMELY hard to resist just picking up a fag and lighting it, but I'm so proud that I've done it and I'm not worrying about what damage I could possibly be doing to my baby day by day

I did become a very big bitch though!

 

[Cassie_x]

I've never smoked at all in my life, so I'm not much help, but my older sister smokes. I know how hard it would be for her to kick the habit, so if you are cutting back, good on ya! I wouldn't recommend it, but I wouldn't be angry with you if you needed a cheeky fat now & again!

 

[AmberS]

I know how you feel. My ex best friend smoked through her whole pregnancy and also was doing meth/ other drugs. through the WHOLE pregnancy. Her baby was born premature and had to be given drugs to ween him off meth. Her and the baby were positive for it when she had him. I refuse to speak to her.

 

[ella_xo]

i used to smoke about 15/20 a day before i got pregnant and i managed to stop right away. but then a few weeks later i started getting unbearable cravings. so i started having a sneaky half a fag every once in a while. all in all ive had probably about 5 fags all together which i personally dont think is too bad! honestly i think if your finding it hard to cope,then having a fag will not be the worst thing in the world. but if someone is constantly smoking a lot every day then i dont think thats very responsible. although some babies are perfectly healthy,some arent and your essentially playing russian roulette with your babies health.

 

[courtz2306]

I was smoking 20-30 a day until i found out then i cut down to 10 then 5 etc and now have 1 a day on the odd occasion but very rare, its really hard and am always eating now. stay positive.