Pregnant and smoking

[Moominfan]

Do you judge mums who are pregnant and smoke? There was some work place drama today. Pregnant lady over heard a comment made by two members of staff about her smoking. Must have touched a nerve. One of the two ladies is struggling to conceive so I imagine seeing someone drain a cancer stick whilst pregnant must be repugnant to her.

The whole stress affecting the baby thing from giving up smoking really isn’t true because giving up smoking really isn’t that physically stressful. Women physically addicted to alcohol (and this is a very serious level of addiction) need help to withdraw. Smokers no, they give up every day and a nicotine patch is enough, let’s face it.

Is this a serious comment? Do you think cigarettes only contain nicotine?

Is that a serious comment? What do you think is in cigarettes that is physically addictive?

Before you get carried away, I am in complete agreement with you. But, let’s not spread falsehoods that withdrawing from
Cigarettes is so physically stressful it could harm the unborn baby, because that is not true.

It doesn’t however, make the psychology of giving up any easier, especially in the chaotic life circumstances you have listed

What do you think is in cigarettes that is physically addictive?

Nicotine.

I am a smoker, some people may find what I'm about to say disgusting but I'm not ashamed to say that a really enjoy smoking. However I managed to quit them throughout both my pregnancies, so any one who says to me that they're finding it hard to quit and has '1 or 2 a day' I judge massively.

Yes hercule. Which was the point of my post. You can still take nicotine to help you give up smoking. That’s what reduces any physical stress

Also to add, it was bloody hard and there were days when all I could think about was a cigarette, however I didn't give in because it's not just me who would be smoking, it would be my baby too and what right do I have to do that.

Passthecherrycoke

I think you might be misunderstanding the nature of stress caused by giving up. It’s not a physical thing, it’s psychological. Most people don’t find nicotine in isolation addresses their cravings. Craving a cigarette is a cause of stress, not just nicotine withdrawal.

Many of the chemicals in cigarettes cause withdrawal, not just nicotine. They also interact in ways that make nicotine more effective and longer lasting, Making nicotine alone an ineffective replacement.

It’s one of the reasons why NRT is ineffective for many people.

www.verywellmind.com/cigarette-additives-2824737

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2040350/#!po=0.549451

There’s also the fact that our individual brain chemistry makes it significantly more difficult for some to quit than others, and in some cases withdrawal creates the same chemical changes seen in severe depressive episodes:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110802113318.htm

I am a smoker, some people may find what I'm about to say disgusting but I'm not ashamed to say that a really enjoy smoking. However I managed to quit them throughout both my pregnancies, so any one who says to me that they're finding it hard to quit and has '1 or 2 a day' I judge massively

🤦‍♀️

Not at all. I am well aware of that. Posters above are referring to what can damage the baby. Physical stress (ie giving up an alcohol addiction) certainly can. Giving up smoking does not cause anything like that level of physical stress, as I’m sure you’d agree.

However, as you’re aware, the unborn baby can take a huge amount of psychological stress, especially early on. Giving up smoking is not going to be enough to damage it.

That doesn’t make giving up smoking any easier for the mother, it just means the “my midwife told me Giving up smoking would be more damaging for the baby than to continue” stories are myths.

Passthecherrycoke

Well, no, they’re not myths. Women are told this might be the case. Unless you think they’re lying?

Then as many previous posters have requested, there will be plenty of evidence available to illustrate that?

Passthecherrycoke

I’m confused. What evidence could demonstrate that women have been told this, other than them telling you they were?

Because the NHS and associated support services give evidence based advice to pregnant woman, all of which is also available in their literature. How else would it be approved advice? They have to get it from somewhere

flufuff

I was not talking about increased risk of cancer, which indeed has not been proven. I was talking about this:

www.hippocraticpost.com/fertility/acrylamide-harmful-pregnancy/

I massively cut down my morphine dose in early pregnancy (I’d been on a huge dose for over 10 years by then) before I even knew I was pregnant, and was trying to get it down while trying to conceive. It was a walk in the park compared to quitting smoking. I don’t think people understand what quitting smoking can be like for some people - we are not all the same.

I cut my morphine dose down by 90% before my third trimester and barely struggled with it.

So I don’t believe for a second that it’s as clear cut as you seem to think.

But also, I think what you might be forgetting is that smoking can be a symptom of stress, so women who are under considerable amounts of stress already in pregnancy might find that attempting to quit cold turkey compounds that. The advice given to those women who are finding pregnancy very hard to cope with already might be that they have to prioritise themselves. It’s not for us to judge.

Because the NHS and associated support services give evidence based advice to pregnant woman, all of which is also available in their literature. How else would it be approved advice? They have to get it from somewhere

Most midwives don’t just give “approved advice”. They look at the whole person. If, in their professional judgement, a woman is vulnerable/not coping with her situation, they are unlikely to increase pressure on her by trying to get her to quit completely. That is, if they are in any way fitted to their vocation. The woman is the patient, not the unborn baby.

It’s not easy to give up smoking (I’ve done it and I am privileged enough not to experience the stresses and complexities some women do) it’s very very hard.

It’s not true that it causes harm to the unborn baby to do so though. They’re 2 separate things

I totally judge pregnant women smoking. (I was a smoker before & after pregnancies off them now though)

Passthecherrycoke

Physiologically, you are probably right. Whether it might exacerbate existing stresses (or remove the ability to manage them) for any individual woman is quite another question.

However I managed to quit them throughout both my pregnancies, so any one who says to me that they're finding it hard to quit and has '1 or 2 a day' I judge massively.

Can I ask why you started again after you had your first baby? I'd have thought once you had a baby to look after it might be easier to stay a non- smoker?

calpoppincalpol

What a ridiculous thing to say, how on earth does someone having an extra piece of cake affect you personally? You just sound bitter tbh.

Precisely Hercule. Quitting when you’re having a planned pregnancy in a stable partnership, with a stable home, income, no DA, no drug use, no alcohol use, no mental health issues etc is not what all women are facing.

I know for a fact that if you admit to judging a pregnant woman for having a glass of wine in a restaurant with dinner here, you’re called a fascist. But you don’t know that it isn’t her 10th glass of the day, and you don’t know that the woman smoking isn’t on the first of her pregnancy.

Because drinking is more acceptable socially, we make assumptions about people smoking that we don’t make about people drinking. I personally have a much bigger issue with drinking, after having grown up amongst alcoholics and seeing the effects of alcohol on neonates.

We’re basically saying the same thing then I am simply pointing out telling pregnant women they should carry on because quitting can harm the baby is untrue.