to want to go up the pregnant woman that i saw smoking, take her cigarette away from her, stamp on it and call her a selfish cow!!

[lucyellensmum]

it is plain selfish to smoke whilst pregnant, given what is known about the risk

I'm pre menstural, i DARE you to say im being unreasonable.

MrsScavo - i stand by my opinion that smoking is wrong, especially during pregnancy and i am actually not a judgemental person. But, i guess i should have stopped and considered that this person may have been under all sorts of stresses etc and it really isnt my place to judge. I drank through both of my pregnancies. To be fair, once i knew i was pregnant i gave up but i drank like a fish until i found out i was pregnant, i feel guilty sometimes but i didnt know about it, that doesnt stop the effects though does it.

some of the attitudes on here really piss me off at times.if you post on a thread on MN that abortion is cruel,disgusting etc,you get flamed and called an uncaring cow.yet its ok to say that women who smoke when they are pregnant are evil etc.strange.with both issues,there are always two sides to every story,and it doesnt do to be judgemental(something i learnt not long after i joined this site).

why should women consider being pregnant a privelige?(i cant spell today,also have PMT,which affects my brain in wierd ways).

skidoo - um, how do you know im a big woman

LOL @ LEM

I know of 2 women who are expecting ATM and both smoke.

I know the risks, but I'm not carring a baby. They know the risks but are addicted to it

It would be so condecending for me to tut and frown.

I really wished they didn't do it but it's their choice.

yabu its none of your business. sorry, but i'm pg, tired and fed up and this thread has just made me light a cig up!

I dislike it when I see PG women smoking, BUT... parenting is a huge set of things we do. None of us can manage to do everything "perfect", we're only human at end of the day. Unless you know the all about the woman's parenting strengths and deficits, I wouldn't judge. And frankly, there ARE much worse things than smoking that women can and do do when PG.

Haven't read the whole thread (more fool me) but it is incredibly difficult to give up smoking, yes some people find it easy, yes some people find that being pregnant gives them the impetus they needed to go cold turkey, but for most people giving up is very hard and most will fail several times before they succeed.

Perhaps what you really mean is how dare she be pregnant but smoking publically and - horrors!! - looking happy, rather than sneaking a guilty fag out the back door before dosing herself on Extra Strong Mints.

The stats on smoking in pregnancy are pretty bad but I'm not really sure what can be done about them. As I say, it's not easy to quit at the best of times and throw a few stressors into the mix... Really the only thing that will truly, permanently affect smoking rates is stopping people starting and I really hope the smoking ban will contribute to that goal.

I am not a smoker, but I know it is incredibly addictive. I have a friend who smoked (occasionally) when pg, she was under a huge amount of stress and just not able to give up at that point. Not ideal but it was her choice. Pg women do have choices that can be separated from the rights of the foetus (see debates on abortion passim).

I know people who have given up (heavy) smoking habits and been physically ill for weeks. Try doing that when pregnant before you jump on other women .

Only if she also had a large glass of wine and a goats cheese and peanut butter sandwich. Then you could let rip

people are often amazed when there is a smoker standing outside one of our shops- they seem to assume that having a baby miraculously negates the need for nicotine !!

I smoked through pregnancy, i still smoke but i would go berserk if someone tried to tell me what to do because i was pregnant!

One thing i have to say is why do people find it so exceptable for women to smoke during pregnacy which is risking the babies health yet lecture on the benefits of bf and call people who ff selfish for not putting the babies health first?

Surely if you bf it's because you want your baby to have the best possible start in life health wise so why should it be any different with smoking? Isn't that a contridiction in terms or what?

Please don't turn this into a bf v ff debate by the way >>yawn

I gave up smoking as soon as I found out pregnant (pass me a halo) so it can be all too easy for me to smuggly tut at smoking pregnant women.... then I remember that I now drink way too much,have smacked my dd in the past ran out of fruit for her packed lunch today and am generally a shitty mother in most respects. ( passing halo back) We all get it wrong sometimes. (some more than others )

I'm really not sure that threads like this help anyone - most women know that smoking in pregnancy is bad for their baby, but continue to smoke because they are addicted. The emotional upheaval of being pregnant can make it harder even harder to quit when people aren't pregnant. And many women feel really guilty and worried so having a go is just going to make them feel worse. Others just go into denial about how harmful it is (see below).

What women need is proper support if they want to quit, not condemnation if they can't.

Many people (including people on this thread) underestimate the degree of risk from smoking in pregnancy - to both mother and child. It causes a horrendous list of problems - placenta praevia, placental abruption, low birth weight, stillbirth, cot death, asthma, poor lung development, respiratory illness and ear infections. Unfortunately the evidence is that "cutting down" has little impact on these risks, so quitting is really the only option.

If a woman smokes

Just to put a cat amongst the pigeons.
My friends midwife actually told her it was better she cut it down to 1 or 2 a day than put her body through the stress of total withdrawal.
Apparently, moms withdrawal symptoms can be more damaging than the effects of 1 or 2 cigarettes.

FWIW, i used to smoke, but i gave up when i was 3 weeks pregnant.

Kaishay - Your friend's midwife is talking bollocks. That is very dangerous - and evidence-free - advice. Thre is clear evidence that most women who report "cutting down" do not meaningfully reduce their consumption.

Nonetheless, my midwife said this too.

Maybe the midwives feel they have more of a chance of cutting down than quitting altogether

Clearly there is a need for some professional education on smoking and pregnancy (and breasfeeding and everything else). Seriously - I know it seems to make sense, but the evidnece suggests it just doesn't work (and moay domore harm than good).

"The effects of giving up smoking suddenly (ie in the space of early pregnancy) can put the human body under incredible stress, it is an addiction and as such there will be withdrawal symptoms, most dangerously in pregnancy high blood pressure and maternal fitting."

Wildwoman - I think you might be right. Especially if women say they don't want to quit at all. I know mws place a lot of importance on building positive relationships with women, so can see why they might not want to appear judgemental (I know that some people's exepriences may not bear this out!).

But they should be advising people based on the facts,...

NT - where on earth did you find that? It is Not True.

Midwifery and reproductive research journal no 6117952/02 year 2003, published by Exeter press, excerpt taken from apendix 87(h), article 11.

Are you a doctor firepile?

Sazzy - not a doctor, but I do work as a researcher in publis health, and have recently written a detailed policy paper on parental smoking and the effects on kids.

NT - interesting. Need to do a check - back in a bit.