To think pushing a pram while smoking...

[Damash12]

Is just wrong!! I'm probably gonna get flamed but really??!! I see mum/dad pushing their babies with a fag resting on the handle, about level with child's head, all the fag smoke blowing nicely over the baby. And why do I find it even worse when it's a grandparent???

I had no idea that people are now so openly sneery about smokers

I don't smoke anymore, I stopped about 7 years ago, but my goodness how things have changed if the majority of people think you're a rough arsed no hoper because you smoke.

That's not in relation to, eg, post above mine which is clearly awful. Just the general feeling I mean.

YANBU.

The thing about not judging anyone is rubbish. You can and should judge people who breathe smoke in their baby's face. They should be judged. They should feel bad. They should stop it. Bloody idiots.

Although I will say the ones who smoke with the child in the pram are not quite as stupid as the ones who smoke with a baby in a sling!

It is utterly repulsive. It is probably the scabbiest, vilest thing I see on a regulat basis. There seems to be a plethora of scummy pregnant, buggy pushing mothers near where I work and I can't help but stare. I want to sweep the babies away and shake the mothers. Selfish cows.

I am actually glad that it has become so taboo now and something that people judge so harshly. Poor, poor children breathing in all that cigarette smoke. I think within 10 years it will become so socially unnacceptable it will be a matter for Social Services.

Irrespective of how much the baby suffers if you smoke around it and the efficacy of blowing smoke away or not directly towards the baby, I'm fairly certain you dying slowly and painfully (lung cancer is not a nice way to go...) is going to negatively affect it.....

Because that's what smoking does. It kills you. Personally I'd like to be around to see my children grow up and have their own children, but hey, each to their own. I'm sure smoking's worth it

Has anyone admitted to smoking in pregnancy yet...?

I don't think that if you smoke you are 'rough'. I think that if you smoke over a pram or in close proximity to a baby it does make you look 'rough' and people will of course be judging you.

It's not common or rough - its just disgusting.

As someone said earlier, the smokers don't even inhale much - they just waft their ciggies around for their babies and for us all to enjoy. Tis shit.

what i dont understand is why have a child, then actively try and shorten the amount of time you're around on this planet to see it grow up, by smoking? why would you smoke and knowingly contribute to them losing a parent sooner than they would naturally? i just dont get it...

i dont think smoking looks common, everyone from every walk of life does it.
i just think that bringing those chemicals into a home that a child lives in is wrong on every single level

It's not about being common (I hate it when people make judgements like that)) but its about the health implications. I'm an ex smoker so know how hard it is to give up but if you can't give up for your kids then what are you going to give up for?

Smoking when pregnant doesn't just mean you could have a low weight baby it can cause miscarriage and significantly increases the risk of SIDS after birth as does smoking around your baby. It's not good enough to go outside either because you are still breathing out carbon monoxide a long time after you've stubbed out your fag. And walking behind the pram outside isn't safe either because a lot of the smoke you breath out is invisible so you can't see where it's blowing.

You wouldn't put your baby to sleep on its tummy with a pillow, would you? So don't smoke!!!

Lots of my friends smoke in the house while their children are in the room. That's their choice but I don't see them when I have my baby any more. It's just not worth it

I don't think people are openly sneery - we just complain privately or on Mumsnet.

I hate it in the summer when the smokers get all the nice outdoor tables at cafes. Fucks me right off!

Look, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and FWIW I do agree that smoking right in front of a child or while pushing the buggy is not the world's greatest idea.

But are we going to take this as far as saying "I don't understand why you would actively try and shorten the amount of time you're on this planet by eating takeaways and junk food all the time" (increasing your risk of diabetes and heart disease, for example) or "I don't understand why you would actively try and shorten the amount of time you're on this planet by drinking every night"?

The absolute flaming an OP would get if they started an AIBU about a heavily overweight mother...

Absolutely disgusting that people smoke over and around children.
They are effectively shortening babies and children's lives through passive smoking.
I find it so abhorrent that I wish smoking was labelled by social services as abuse, and the children taken away should the parents refuse to stop. I think that some states in the USA do this. They certainly do it where children are born affected by mothers alcohol intake during pregnancy.
Suppose I shall be flamed now....

I'll judge if ai want to - I earned the right. my mum chain smoked through every pregnancy, smoked in our faces when she fed us. She, her children and our house stank of smoke. Made my first communion and she burned a hole in my veil before I'd even left the house. Every car trip, plane trip, bus trip was in the smoking section with all the smokers. I was constantly ill as a kid with coughs, colds etc, was it connected , who knows and god knows what long term damage it might have done. Also had to watch her die of lung cancer. When I see you smoking with your child, I'll assume you might be doing all that at home, why wouldn't you if you'll do it in public where everyone can see you.

Smokers don't give a shiny shite about their own health. Why would they care about anyone else's? They just extend their logic to those around them.

Well said, RAGWORT.

Smoking isn't too clever, but the vitriol from the ant-smokers on here is harsh.

I presume that these posters raging about toxins don't use disposable nappies and wipes, because they are full of toxins too.
I expect nothing but organic food and drink passes their lips and they wash, shampoo and moisturise with organic products to avoid the toxins.
Don't bother coming to live in the country to avoid the environmental pollution as we have constant spraying of crops with toxins.

Well I don't object on the grounds that smokers are dumbly paying a fortune to get themselves sick.

I object on the grounds that it makes the atmosphere/everyone around toxic and stinky.

Me having a chocolate bar in the street isn't going to exactly effect my asthmatic children/neighbours though, will it?

oh, i think the stereotypical demographic of mumsnet probably doesn't include many smokers, hence why there's not many posters who are smokers/smoked during pregnancy?

I don't think you can compare the toxins in shampoo to smoking Haven't you read some of the posts above? Smoking increases the risk of SIDS by 21 times!!! That's staggering! If anything else increased the risk that much you wouldn't do it.

I used to work for an NHS trust and it shocked me how many fullterm women were clustered around the maternity door entrance smoking one cig after the other. if you questioned them you'd get a response like "it's my body I can do whatever I like". It's dangerous for some people to have children, they really shouldn't.

namechangeguy I think it's quite a unfair thing to say. You're saying all smokers don't give a shit about others health because they smoke? I don't smoke in building entrances or walking down the street. I smoke in my back garden or as I said before designated smoking areas away from non smokers. But yeah you just tar us selfish smokers with the same brush eh...

Young children and toddlers are especially sensitive to the effects of secondhand smoke, due to the fact that their bodies are still growing and developing and they breathe faster then adults and therefore may inhale more smoke.

Research has shown that children, who grow up in a smoky household, where one or both parents smoke, have twice the amount of respiratory and lung disorders.

This is a big bug bear of mine. Fine - you want to smoke but why inflict it on your children? You may have a healthy lifestyle in all other aspects - but this one does real damage!

I once saw a man waiting outside a shop with his baby in a buggy. He had his smoking hand resting on the closed hood of the buggy, and everytime he tipped his fag, the ash would land on the young baby's head! I HAD to say something, knowing that I would probably get a load of grief for it, but really - I couldn't just stand by and watch! (He did give me grief - he swore at me and told me to mind my own business - but he did put his fag out!)

Yeah, because baby wipes and cigarette smoke are exactly the same FarBetter

Just to add another point, it also drives me mad when in our town centre all the shops with a sticking out roof to keep shoppers dry have smokers standing under them, and the bus shelters too. Even the park benches and city centre benches have faggers puffing away. Would be nice to sit outside on sunny day and feed baby on bench. I do NOT want to have to push my baby (or myself if I have to pick up baby or even my dog for that matter) through the stench and fumes.

Saw a woman smoking while pushing a toddler in his pushchair this morning . Yuck .