To ask DH to stop vaping?

[HTKB]

DH and I have been on and off smokers for years. I quit in June as I fell pregnant. He had been on and off vaping and although he did quit smoking in June, he really really struggled and took up vaping again in about October. At the time I was unhappy as I felt we didn't know enough about vaping and effects on a newborn, as well as co-sleeping, which we will almost certainly do as we did with DS.

We agreed he would quite vaping on the 1st Feb. I am due beginning of march.

DH duly stopped vaping on 1st Feb, as agreed. But he's really, really struggling. The problem is is he is very stressed.... He has a full on job and we are also refurbing the house which of course we are in a rush to do before the baby arrives. Plus we have a 4 year old, and DH has an anxiety disorder. He is constantly busy, his head is always full of the next job to do, and the next, and the next.... He gets absolutely no down time as we rush to finish the house. I've had a dreadful pregnancy and haven't been able to help as much as I'd like.

In the evenings, after dinner he used to take himself off for twenty minutes and sit in a darkened room and have a quiet vape. I suspect he did a similar sort of thing at work. He has quit now, and he wouldn't start again unless I gave him the go-ahead, but I'm feeling dreadfully guilty. I can see my lovely DH really struggling with everything and his outlet gone. But I just can't see how we can co-sleep and care for a newborn when we know nothing about the long term effects of vaping?

Hi OP. Firstly, a massive congratulations to you both for quitting smoking! A big achievement in itself.

I work in public health and have been doing a lot of reading and researching into e-cigarettes. They are still relatively new products, and as such we don't know the full extent of harms or benefits as yet. Even the new evidence that has been coming out and has led to alarmist headlines should be taken with a pinch of salt - often the claims are not supported by the evidence presented, as overall it's too early to draw firm conclusions. (Luckily many clinical trials are in progress, so the evidence base will hopefully become clearer over the next few years).

In answering your Q: my take is that most of the concerns about harm are in relation to specific flavourings. (Although again - worth stressing - this hasn't been fully established, but seems to be what most studies are suggesting).

Going forward I would suggest: a) give your local stop smoking service a call and ask if they have any advice or might be able to support your OH (who otherwise may risk a relapse back onto tobacco) and b) consider asking your OH to go flavourless.

It's always worth bearing in mind that all risks are relative - there is a risk to everything we do! However by both quitting smoking you've reduced the risk of harm to both yourselves and your little one massively. There may be a risk to using e-cigarettes - however it's incredibly unlikely to be anywhere near as harmful as cigarette smoking. It sounds like you're going a great job to be healthy for your baby - and I wish you all the best.

chaosagain Unfortunately that link is to yet another piece of junk, the lead author of which has the "personal opinion", not based on science, that ecigs are no better than tobacco.
What was not mentioned in much of the coverage of that shite is that they exposed cells to eliquid vapour for up to 8 weeks and got less "damage" than cells exposed to tobacco smoke in 1 day - the cells all died.
More proof, if any still required, that ecigs are safer than tobacco.
It's also good that NHS smoking cessation services are now working with ecigs, although they can't give them out they can advise on their use.

BeezerBubble great analysis.

And yes, many NHS stop smoking services are e-cigarette friendly - so they will be able to support you to quit smoking tobacco (offer behavioural and psychological support and offer choice of other quitting aids), although they are unable to endorse or provide any e-cigs.

A couple of e-cig products have obtained a medical product license but are not currently commercially available, therefore they cannot be prescribed.