Pregnant women should take 'smoking test': what do you think?

I did a breath test at my booking appt. Never smoked in my life but it didn't seem like a big deal to blow into a tube for a couple of seconds. The midwife said they'd picked up some dodgy boilers by doing the test - no idea if that was true though!

Ridiculous and part of the culture of treating women as idiots who were stupid enough to get pregnant. Why assume that pregnancy turns you into a lying thicko? Everyone's mother was a pregnant woman once.

This sounds like the thin end of the wedge to me. By the time our dds are having babies they'll be testing them for alcohol and caffeine.
The stuff men do that affects the quality of their sperm, however, will remain unmonitored.

I agree this is a start of something and i dread to think of what other tests they have thought up!
I'm newly pregnant & will not be partaking in an of this nonsense as a: i have never smoked & b: its pointless, infantile and waste of rescourse that could be better spent elsewhere. Next they will be testing us to see whether we have dared have a cup of coffee

Um, doesn't that happen already? Or by early pregnancy do you mean prior to booking in? I had some kind of 'do you smoke' test when booking in for each of my 2 pregnancies, each time it showed 'positive' and yet I don't smoke. We lived in a city at the time, so I could only guess it was because of pollution or our heavily smoking neighbour below our flat. It made me worried for the sake of our son's health to think I showed as a smoker, because we had no idea where it came from. The MW was surprised that it showed positive given I said I didn't smoke; so I would not be happy if people were lectured off the back of it, given its skewed results for one non-smoker.

Patronising, infantalising and useless. Thin end of a dangerous wedge.

Well, can't a woman simply refuse this test? They honestly can't force any aspect of ante-natal care on a woman.

Bumbolina

The unborn fetus doesn't have a choice because it is essentially a parasite that feeds off the woman's body. Maternal rights trump fetal rights and that's exactly how it should be.

It may be harsh, but that's how it is. We don't ask to be born, we don't get to choose our families, we don't get to choose that we are born to a woman under 35 etc etc. None of us get to choose these things because we aren't capable of making that choice.

This whole business about the fetus having a choice is just bizarre.

Someone from NICE would also be very interesting. They presumably have access to the same data.

The midwives were great with me, they even did home visits for me as I was caring for my MIL & couldn't sit in a clinic all afternoon for an appt.

Can we have whoever was responsible for implementing this in Glasgow on for a webchat? They must have enough data by now to be able to objectively assess its effectiveness.

They are also in a good position to address the ethical concerns.

Glasgow were doing the test as standard when I was pregnant with DD. She'll be 4 in August.

I was going by Schro's comments about her experience: nicotine sweets etc. Sounds bloody awful :(

K8 I agree it sounds bonkers. There is much wrong with the NHS undoubtedly but I can't believe anyone would actually be put on nicotine replacement therapy (and take it!) if they were a non smoker though.

Holey I know. :( I guess they are just so over worked that they start to blank out the realities of situations. I am now with the homebirth MW this time round and am shocked at the difference in attitudes and approach. The MW I have is seriously lovely.

I too had this at booking in. I don't think I was told it was a test for smoking - just for carbon monoxide, so I was happy to have it in case something was leaking at home (which is what I assumed they were checking for).

I've never smoked but I think I would feel somewhat belittled if I'd told the mw I'd stopped smoking only to be subsequently 'tested'. I guess it depends on whether they are just testing for smoke, or screening for pollution or carbon monoxide as well.

Shro, I do know what you mean, but I wish it was not this way.

I was completely trusting of midwives before my first baby was born & their hardened attitudes were a total shock. I hope I will be more assertive this time, but it is hard when vulnerable.

Bloody hell! Resist, resist, resist. Nanny state. FGS. These bloody organisations can't think of anything else to do but come up with more and more ways to infantilise people. If they've got time to come up with this rubbish then they're unnecessary.

What next though, blood tests to show no alcohol or that we haven't eaten something from the banned list (I would have failed, rare steak and blue cheese was a rather vicious craving I had), compulsory vitamins?

I'm in Scotland but wasn't offered the test, however my booking in MW did no tests at all and just lectured me on my weight and insisted I was a high risk pregnancy because of it and my PCOS. Later confirmed by consultant that I wasn't!

Holey I'm not blaming anyone and yes drug addicts and smokers should get the same respect as anyone else, I just meant that the MWs seem kind of hardened here IYKWIM?

So what if some drug adicts and some smokers lie? They should still be treated with compassion and respect. What is the point of the blame culture? It is only helpful to any hcps on a power trip.

Had dd in past few weeks and got given thus test as standard a couple of times.

Not even explained what for other than "carbon monoxide test"

I would expect them to trust me to tell the truth when asked if I smoke or not
After all, it's my baby.
I would say no to a test.