to think "no actually, the stress of stopping smoking won't be worse for your unborn baby than you smoking"

[UphillBothWays]

I'm fed up with hearing this as an excuse for continuing to smoke in pregnancy! I've heard people say this in real life, on TV, and now Stacey Solomon is claiming her doctor OK'd her smoking too.

Yes, quitting smoking is hard, but don't claim it's better for your baby to be exposed to carbon monoxide, cyanide and nicotine fgs.

I would have a lot more sympathy if they said "I know it's awful and I'm trying my hardest to stop but I'm struggling and have slipped up"

I doubt it, Kerry Katona was inhaling half of Columbia and still employed by them.

Actually thinking about it - Iceland need to think a bit harder about their representatives.

Thinking about it again - the prawn ring and plastic forest gateaux need to be flogged by a certain type.

al0uise, not saying it is not insurmountable, I was responding to a specific comment about it being as hard as giving up heroin. but, as you mention about dieting, many people are successful and many many many people struggle for that very reason, because those around them continue to live their lives as they normally do and eat those same things that those dieting must now avoid.

Addictions are hard to manage, whether legal or illegal substances.

But not for everyone. some people can just do it without trying.

I agree totally Pavlov - have you noticed how smoking is creeping back into the mainstream again recently? TV and film from before about the mid 80s had lots of characters smoking, then for a while it stopped completely, but it seems to be coming back again - "in fashion" again almost, and so many slebs are pictured doing it too.
I actually looked into the smoking and dietary habits of (sample size 200) students for my degree dissertation and found that almost all the smokers basically did it to get or stay thin and smoked the "light" brand in the cool packaging... the Govt finally banned the "lights" thing which was utter bollocks anyway as people smoke more of them and suck harder and the cool packaging, but I wonder what effect the pictures of all the "idols" smoking has, particularly on young girls...

I thought it was pretty well known that more than half of those who lose weight on a diet go on to weigh more than their original starting weight within a 2 year period. Fact is that most dieters are not successful. I think if anything it proves how difficult it is to stop anything when exposed to constant temptation.

I hope all the judgey pants on here weren't overweight when they got pregnant?

Or is it ok to risk your unborn baby's health (and your own) in one way but not another?

The people saying they doubt pregnant women give a shit about smoking...do you also doubt overweight Mums don't give a shit about their babies either?

The list of possible problems obesity in pregnancy can cause the baby and mother, are just as bad...if not worse than smoking during pregnancy can cause.

Find another stick to beat with OP or at least beat pregnant women evenly

The thing about smoking, and it's been said before on this thread, is that it does zero good at all. It's just toxic poison.

Grabbing a Macdonalds isn't optimum nutrition but during pregnancy it's possibly better to eat something rather than nothing or eat something that you can keep down.

I don't buy the "stress" argument for smoking either. Just smoking a cigarette raises blood pressure so that can't possibly be de stressing.

The excuses for continuing to smoke tnroughought pregnancy never fail to amaze me. I'm an ex smoker btw.

Grabbing a Macdonalds is fine as long as the Mother isn't living on junk

I'm talking about those who actively try to conceive when they're overweight

It's selfish, dangerous and unfair on the baby.

Just as smoking is selfish, dangerous and unfair on the baby.

Both pregnant Mothers are putting their self first without thinking of their unborn child.

And that's quite apart from the fact that over half the women who die during childbirth are overweight or obese.

Smoking also damages sperm. It doesn't just reduce sperm count, it actually affects the nucleus of the sperm and leads to a heightened risk of miscarriage and birth defects.

How come we don't see many men treated to the same opprobrium given to pregnant women?

I'm happy to judge obese parents to be. My judgey Knicks are frilly enough for all of them.

The thing is, when you get right down to it, nobody needs an excuse to smoke, or eat, or drink, or do bloody anything that is legal and they are of age to do, so anyone who wants to can judge away, and call them names, and speak their mind, when what they really mean is " I wouldn't dream of doing that, and even if I did dream of doing it, I resisted, and thus you are less than me, and I am superior to you because you didn't resist, and this makes me feel better about myself"
Nothing else comes into it really. It's all about the superiority

Or moral fibre

Very true Pom

That was like a brief synopsis of MN in itself

What Pom said.

It's what all judging's about though isn't it?

Are MN entering a team for the Olympics? The trials are going well.

Judging - sport of Vipers.

Which is why I judge NOBODY - because, whilst not perfect, I actually feel pretty good about myself most of the time & believe whilst none of us are perfect, most people strive to be the best they can & very few people are actually bad people.

But hey - if you want to deem people selfish fuckwits - be my guest - I ain't judging...

We need to have a baseline of standards and we need to question why people do things that are 100% harmful.

There have been some awful cases of neglect because people are afraid of making value judgements. I would rather err on the side of caution than excuse completely harmful behaviours.

Oh please - judgy pants!

It's not so much about the fact that some people either find it too difficult to give up, or just don't give enough of a shit about their baby to try.

It's that they try to dress it up in some transparent excuse that - actually - speaks volumes about the fact that they know it is wrong. Who are they trying to fool?

Do whatever you like to your own body and your child - I might not agree, think you're massively wrong, but it's still your right to make those decisions. But don't try and make out it's anything other than what it is. Don't try and pretend smoking doesn't have the effects and consequences it does. Don't try and delude yourself and worse, me, by saying it's not so bad. Because it is.

Make your decisions, stand by them, live with the consequences, whatever they are.

But just so it's clear - smoking is incredibly bad for you, those around you, and regardless of the difficulty of giving up - quite a lot of people manage it! And saying it's OK because it's legal is possibly the most disingenuous argument yet. It's more likely it's still legal because the tax revenue on tobacco is too good for the government to give up.

'Tis always easy to spot the people who couldn't be fucked stopping...

I'm a smoker. I stopped with DS and have currently stopped now. It's not that bloody hard. I want to vomit when I see pregnant ladies smoking. It's gross.

I'm not interested in guilt-tripping pregnant women, and I know quitting smoking is really tough. However, isn't it also the case that social shame associated with smoking in pregnancy is quite a powerful tool in getting women to stop it? The real problem with this kind of media story is not Stacy Solomon's baby (who will probably be fine) but that any endorsement of this myth spreads it and makes other women less likely to quit. And a good proportion of their babies WON'T be fine.

I'm really shocked that so many posters have had similar advice from their GPs and MWs. I think that sometimes midwives get very collusive with women for fear that they will lose their trust and confidence if they don't tell them pretty much what they want to hear.

WorralLiberty - "Find another stick to beat with OP or at least beat pregnant women evenly"

Who says we're not allowed to criticise a pregnant woman smoking unless we're prepared to equally criticise an obese pregnant woman just "being"??

Who made you queen of the sticks??!

To be honest, I would naturally be concerned if I saw a morbidly obese woman that was pregnant but I wouldn't know if that woman had a clinical condition, or had already sizeably reduced her weight or was taking great care of her diet during this pregnancy. With a pregnant woman smoking, I see a pregnant woman in the process of doing something that is medically known to cause harm.

YANBU. My stupid and annoying uncle uses exactly the same excuse to not give up smoking to help his Chrohn's disease. Apparantly his doctor told him it would be more stressful for him to stop, and so worse for his condition, than carrying on smoking. Sniff, sniff, I smell bullshit.

My sister got told it was ok to drink as long as she didn't get so drunk she fell over. She also got fed the bullshit about smoking and how stopping might be too stressful for her. So she smoked, through 2 pregnancies. Not loads, about 2 or 3 a day. 2 DC's both with asthma, both have been hospitalised with it in the past. No family history of asthma. She still won't aknowledge her puffing had anything to do with it.