Smoking while pregnant anyone?

Mrs_Optimist

I have never been a smoker so perhaps I am biased but I find the sight of pregnant women (especially heavily pregnant women) smoking offensive. The same with pregnant women drinking alcohol (although not quite as much). I don't know why, and I would never say anything to a pregnant women (although I have witnessed other people marching up and giving their two pennies worth) But I would just say that you wouldnt give a baby a lit cigarette so why would you smoke whilst pregnant? It's the same difference.

If you are willing and able to give up whilst pregnant good on you.

Elle00

Well done OP on giving up - it's a hard thing to do and you've obviously managed it for the baby and not because you were actually ready to quit which is a hard thing to achieve. Be wary about lighting up after the birth though because it will be just as hard to quit a second time round so if you can stop for good at this point you know it's the best thing for you.

Don't be too hard on your friend though; we all need to remember that her GP has given her advice based on her situation in it's entirety. If her GP doesn't believe she is capable of quitting at this time then he or she is right to say the stress of beating herself up over it could cause a lot of problems for the baby than a limited amount of cigarettes. The less you smoke the less of a risk there is though of course there is still a risk.

I smoked all the way through my pregnancy and not just the odd one either. I am not proud of this and still 20m on have not quit after reading the Allen Carr book, trying patches and gum and even paying £140 for a hypnotist along the way. I too suffered from ante-natal depression; I have a history of it and was in an unhappy marriage as well. I had a major allergic reaction at 6wks pregnant that could not be treated properly in case of harming the foetus so I had chronic itching that made me bleed from head to toe for FIVE AND A HALF WEEKS. I had round the clock nausea, bloody diarrhoea, recurring thrush, a fissure (if you don't know you don't want to) and I had to move house at 35wks pregnant too. I had my baby a few days after moving when I was between 35+5 and 36+2 and guess what? He was 6lb 12oz and scored 9/10 on the apgar scale after 1min and 10/10 after 5mins. My healthy friend's son born two days before at full term was only 6lb 5oz. The prematurity is much more likely down to the stress especially as the chemicals released when you're stressed are now thought to mature the baby's organs and explain a good percentage of previously unexplained premature births. It would explain why my son was so perfectly formed at such an early gestation and yes, we are positive he could not have been older because events that took place prior to conception.

We all know smoking CAN cause problems but also that it often does not. So yes those who smoke ARE taking a risk but no it DOESN'T make them undeserving of their children and as for the person who said it's indicative of how you'll treat them later on... Pft! Some of us find it hard to relate to our unborn children and as much as this might offend someone, I'm sorry to say I thought of "it" as a "thing" that made me constantly ill and not the beautiful little baby he was when he was born.