to wonder how people can justify smoking during pregnancy?

[Archemedes]

I know this is an emotive thread, and I'm not talking about people who try and cut down slowly I'm talking about people who make no effort to stop.

How do people justify that?

Where I live I see alot of it and suprisingly its not mainly 'chavyy women' as people would think.

AIBU to wonder why someone wouldnt even try to stop?

giveitago the risks are in my long post above (bottom part)

After my third miscarriage in a row I was seriously judgy about pregnant smokers. A close friend had just suffered a stillbirth and felt very similar. I know it was irrational but as I took multiple pills per day, shoved suppositories up my arse and injected myself all over my bruised, sore body to try and hang onto a pregnancy I bloody RESENTED those who would put theirs at risk in this way. So yep ... really smug and complacent of me, wasn't it?

The risk of cot death in the baby of the obese mother is diminished, however I have nursed babies on a dextrose drip who's little bodies cannot cope with the withdrawal of it from their system, much like nicotine or other drugs. I have also nursed babies with nerve damage in their necks from shoulder dystocia.

I'm currently writing an essay on the subject and one of my sources states "Long-term risks for the infant are an increase in child, adolescent, and adult obesity ? a maternal BMI above 30 mg/kg2 in the first trimester results in the prevalence of childhood obesity of 15.1% at 2 years of age, 20.5% at 3 years of age, and 24.1% at 4 years of age; increased risk of developing impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes; and an increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome as an adolescent."

I've also recently written an essay of the effect of maternal smoking on the fetus and although the results are more immediate they are equally as bad.

May I ask, OP, who it is that tries to "justify' this? And what they say? You have obviously come across pregnant women smoking. Did you ask them about it?

everlong,i think it may be because until that babes born it dosent seem to register,if you get what im saying

once you can see and care for it,it is real,even though you carry the babe,feel it moving etc i dont think we equate the same as when its born

just my thought

Marilyn - might be worth presenting the odds ratios for those outcomes in your essay based on recent meta-analyses - there's plenty of excellent epidemiological evidence (Cochrane database good place to begin). Ignore me if you're on it already.

OK seen but you also say that most pregnancies for overwieght women have good outcomes. Probably the same for smokers but there are risks as well.

There must be risks for women who keep their weight below what is healthy as well.

I see your point about the double standards but I do think that smoking in pregnancy is actively poisoning your kid. I say this as someone who managed to give up while ttc and then took it up again once baby stopped breast feeding (yeah - not proud). But I'm glad I was able to give up at the time - but we were actively trying to conceive so it was easier to give up. Had I been smoking and found myself with a surprise pregnancy it may have been much much harder.

There is also the risk that a child whose mother smoked during pregnancy is more likely to become a smoker themselves. Nicotine crosses the placenta, and the baby is developing nicotine receptors in the brain whilst in the womb.

Also I can't stand seeing pregnant women drunk as well

If your so selfish that you won't stop somking for nine months then I assume it's only the start of bad parenting and selfish choices

I hate seeing mums somking over their new borns or the saddest thing I was at a mum and baby group some lady's asked if I wanted to hold her baby after 1 minute I had to hand him back he stunk of somke I can only presume we're his mum had him in a sling and was smoking yuk

Being aparent involes painful sacrifices some times it involes making the choice to be a single parent with all that intailes, sometimes it means making the choice to have any more children. Sometimes losing friends or giving up jobs we have worked our wholes lives for

If you can't give up somoking make the sacrifice for a least 9 months I think yu need to wonder if your really up to the job because down the line much bigger challenges will come your way

Cheers frozennorthpole, I have got access to the cochrane database, I have access to knowledge network and cinahl. A topic like obesity is massive and can get quite boggy. I used to have a fab article about treating the women with sensitivity and respect and their feelings on the matter, but I've lost it, as I'd like to present that viewpoint too.

yeah cos all smokers are chavs that feed their newborns blended greggs sausage rolls

do you "choose" to become a single parent,mmmmm from my friends etc i would say 80% didnt

what about the ones that sink bottles of wine a night,valium and have cocaine as the pudding course at there dinner partys, but thats probably ok cos they dont smoke

give me strength

thekidsrule if your so selfish you would endeavour to poison your own child why wouldn't you think it's ok to feed them greggs

Sadly it's mostly the mums who are smoking are the ones who have a chocolate in the baby's hand at 8am

If Being selfish mum is in somones nature sadly it usually won't stop at the one thing

Your not a Chav if you somke whilest your pregnant just selfish unless you want to argue its a good and healthy thing to smoke whilest your pregnant

sweeping statements

everybody can and have been selfish,all of us at many points in our lives,dosent mean to say you should be banned from parenting

some people feed their kids crap food for years,i personally dont but im sure i do other things that those people may not agree with,assuming is a dangerous and ugly thing

and i dont know anybody that smoked and thought it was a good thing,why do you??????

thekidsrule didn't say you should be banned please show we're I wrote that

Just think its selfish and any one who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves, so Is being drunk often whilest pregnant

I don't think people should be banned their just selfish that's all

Giving up smoking while pregnant can on occasions be incredibly difficult. I smoked 6-8 cigarettes a day before I fell pregnant, and I fell pregnant by accident. In fact, I was enjoying a 'last hurrah' of smoking before planning on quitting ttc, which made it harder.

I smoked when pregnant with DD. I didn't smoke a lot, and I was desperately trying to quit, but it was very, very hard. For the first few weeks when I didn't feel pregnant at all, it felt as if I had nothing more than a small piece of plastic I had peed on telling me to quit smoking. Then when I started throwing up 6-10 times a day and the hormones really kicked in, strangely the 1 cigarette a day I had cut down to became almost impossible to give up. Selfish, yes, but I felt like absolute hell, I wasn't eating, I was an emotional wreck (we had huge issues with having to move out of our flat and buy a house during my pgy), I didn't go out and socialise because of the sickness, and that one cigarette in the evening felt like the only enjoyable thing in my life. I smoked more in the week we moved out of our flat because of the stress. I actually had a few cigarettes, the first in a long time, when I was at home in early labour.

I felt guilty the entire time but somehow that never quite stopped the odd occasion I would give in. As someone mentioned above, some women completely go off the taste of cigarettes - and some women don't. Some women almost crave them more. And that means that sometimes they give in and have a cigarette. That was me. I still smoke now, though in the evenings, out of the house, in an 'smoking coat'.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and plenty of people will judge those of us who do smoke when pg, or when they have newborns. But nicotine is an addictive substance and for some of us, despite all the help available and all the guilt, cigarettes can prove nigh on impossible to completely give up.

So, OP - no, there is no justification. But there are explanations from some of us. Each woman, and each pregnancy, is different, and each woman will struggle with different issues.

OP YANBU. I'm the child of someone who smoked throughout her pregnancy and whilst bf me (apparently there is nothing more relaxing than having baby on the breast whilst puffing away with the other hand ). I hate the fact that my mum laughs about the fact that I've shown no obvious long term damage and shows no regret at all but most of all I hate that she loves her nicotine fix more than me.

That said, she went on to have another child, develop breast cancer and now has a grandchild and none of those things have made her even try to stop. She was quite happy to smoke in our (tiny) house all day every day around me and my brother and to send us to school humming of the stuff. I just assume nicotine stops people from giving a sh*t.

OP, I am ashamed to say that despite trying, I smoked when PG. one a day. that was my max.

I HATED it, but when I tired to give up I got massive headaches (seriously!)

I am not proud.

I never smoked around my newborns, in fact I was so paranoid that I only smoked after a feed then showered/changed/teeth

I am NOT prood, but not everyone that smokes are the same

I would also pour scorn on someone that smoked in the same room as a newborn, somewhat ironically

If we are attacking overweight mothers we have to attack underweight mothers too they carry serious risks too.

May I ask, OP, who it is that tries to "justify' this? And what they say? You have obviously come across pregnant women smoking. Did you ask them about it?

I didnt ask them nut were quite brazenly 'i'm not bloody quitting'

Porca- I'm not referring to people like I'm referring to people who have not inclination to stop at all.

Simple for me.

I am pregnant. I will do everything in my power to make sure my unborn baby and myself stay as healthy as possible.
Never smoked so can't comment on giving up etc. but all the other 'risks'...I will do my absolute best to avoid them. All of them.
My baby is the most important thing and it is my responsibility to keep him/her safe.

Simple. That's my opinion and feel very strongly about it. If you decide to bring a baby into this world then take that responsibility seriously from the start.

Flame me with the other smoker.
I found out I was pregnant two weeks after we'd moved to a different country.
In this country women didn't smoke or drink so I was never asked about it.
I am overweight and have had around 12 MCs along with a 22 weeker. I've an incompetant cervix.
Do I win the chav bingo game that seems to be going on?