Smoking all through pregnancy - was it ever acceptable?

[ClayDell]

I was born in 1972

My mum fully admitted that she smoked throughout her pregnancy with me.

i looked at my medical records and I was in a special baby unit for the first month of my life with jaundice

Was smoking throughout pregnancy considered acceptable in 1972?

Yes I was in hospital early 90s on kids ward and my dad used to go to the smoking room, it most definitely existed.

Oh well if you were born in 1968 - you were born in what was possibly the best ever year for music!! 🙌🙌

My mum had horrendous morning sickness and her doctor actually encouraged her to smoke to help her to feel less sick (1963).

When her brother was rushed into hospital in 2023 it had gone and I was told I was imagining it

So bizarre to just gaslight you, @Tracystubbs 😒 why not just sat it's gone now. Weird and unnecessary to lie about it to you!!

Tbh in 70s there would have been smoke in most places you go - public transport, restaurants, workplace, pubs etc. maybe partner and family at home too. So what difference would it really make for a pregnant woman to give up? And was it realistic to think you would, when surrounded by all that smoke? Especially when giving up can cause loads of stress etc that's not good for baby either.

What do they do now in hospitals? If a patient can't get outdoors to smoke, are they expected to go cold turkey?

It probably was acceptable. A lot more people smoked in the 1970s and 80s. My family didn't, our neighbours did and although they were great friends of ours we were always unhappy about the smell of smoke on our clothes after we'd visited.

When DC was born in 2005 I was in hospital for 5 days before his early arrival with preeclampsia. During that time I had 4 different beds in parts of the ward. Each little area I went to was the same, predominantly smokers, all on the ward because they had some problem and were expected to deliver early, all heading off to the courtyard to smoke every no and then. Most of them were under 25, one was a bit older and defiantly smoking despite knowing her baby had a birth defect and thinking it was down to her smoking.

Drinking and caffeine - the birth booklet given out by midwives in our local NHS at that time had an extremely generous allowance for alcohol consumption and no mention of reigning in caffeine at all. I don't remember being told the advice wasn't up to date, but I figured out it was.

Nevertheless, a colleague who gave birth about a week before I did was breast feeding and drinking the health of the new arrival in her hospital maternity ward bed 🤣

There was a TV show The Smoking Room, early 00's I think. It had one of the guys from Peep Show in it. Must have been before the ban as it was set in an indoor space in a workplace.
There was a smoking room at some of my old jobs but it was ridiculously smoky in there. I think it was a bit like in Friends, where she takes up smoking to do a bit of networking, in them. The people who used it always knew the gossip first, and had off-record chats with managers etc.
There was a smoking room on the ferry to Holland as well; as their laws are different to ours.
My parents both worked in office jobs where smoking was permitted at desks, in the 70s. I think that this wasn't a thing my the time I entered the workforce (hence the smoking rooms) although I always remember one of the characters from the film Shallow Grave (1993?) smoking at his desk. I think he was a journalist in the film.

I also remember there was a massive outcry at one of my jobs when the canteen went non-smoking.

At secondary school in the mid 90s, a gang of girls fully intended to go the pregnancy/council flat route to get away from bad home environments. They were arguing about whether to smoke through pregnancy to get smaller babies with a shorter pregnancy, given we all knew smoking could cause cancer. The consensus was to quit again when the baby was born.

In the 50s my granny was ordered to start smoking by her go to "clear her lungs out"! She died of a smoking related ailment.

My mum was a midwife late 70s/early 80s and the advice was to stop but if you couldn't then at least cut down. They actually used to say the stress from stopping smoking could be worse than having a couple a day!
Lots of mums carried on smoking because they thought smoking would result in a smaller baby so easier birth!
Lots of midwives smoked too and would be smoking in their uniforms and in staff break rooms then return to delivery rooms, grim!
Luckily for me my mum has never smoked.

It was completely normal to smoke while pregnant back then.

My mum had my sister in 1967 and she stopped smoking, but she only stopped because it was making her feel sick! It never occurred to her that it would harm the baby. All her friends carried on smoking while pregnant in the 60s and 70s.

I was born in 1976 and it was very normal to see pregnant women smoking when I was a kid. It was only really in the late 80s / early 90s that I remember it becoming heavily publicised that you shouldn't smoke while pregnant, and it took a few years before it became something that was taboo/socially unacceptable.

Born in 1972 and my mum was told to cut down, but still smoke as otherwise her blood pressure was too high!
She went from 30 a day to 10 a day on doctor's advice

My mother smoked through three pregnancies and is still doggedly puffing away at 88.

Yes it was. I was pregnant in 1972. I was a smoker and they told me it would be okay if I kept it below 20 a day (!). Thank goodness my body knew better. I quickly found smoking repulsive and stopped completely through my pregnancy. I take no credit for that - I was lucky. Sadly, I started again afterwards and didn't give up for a few years.

You have to remember that almost everyone smoked then, and there were very few restrictions on smoking - they had parts of cinemas where you couldn't smoke, but of course the smoke drifted across. Pubs and restaurants had no restrictions. People would think nothing of lighting up when they'd finished a meal, even if people at the next table were about to start eating. (Even as a smoker, I found that gross). Trains had ONE non-smoking carriage, and people would still smoke and get quite abusive if they were asked to stop.

And the outcry when the bans came in, in public places. People really felt their right to smoke was being infringed - they had no awareness of the rights of people not to smoke.

Thisis one way in which things are definitely better now.

My mum was convinced that the smoking ban would have such a detrimental effect on pubs, clubs etc that they would change their mind a few months later 😂

My mum had 3 babies between 1970-75. She was a 20 a day smoker but stopped smoking in all 3 pregnancies. She couldn't bear the taste of smoking when pregnant but started again as soon as we were all born to "help her get her figure back". So yes, many women smoked throughout pregnancy in the 60s and 70s.

Growing up, I remember my aunt and uncle not smoking. They were considered a bit odd. Every other adult smoked.

When I started teaching in the mid 90s, we still smoked in the staff room. We have come a long way with smoking in the UK.

I gave birth in 1985. In the hospital there were 2 wards post delivery.
1 was for smokers and I was for no smokers.

Yep
I was born in 1974 and mum smoked in herc2 subsequent pregnancies too.
We were all 6lbs ish and my youngest siblings and I had some post natal health problems
I still have a "weak" chest even now and nearly died of whopping cough at 18 months
I have never smoked, but I imagine I have some damage from the 2 decades of passive smoking
People forget it wasn't just home, it was everywhere...work schools, pubs, cinemas...there was no escape, really.

It was considered less unacceptable.
Some mothers smoked because they wanted smaller babies.
I know a lady who smoked through both her pregnancies in the mid 90s. Apparently it was too stressful to quit.
There was also a lady in the same ward as me in the mid 2000s who'd been induced early and had to have a c-section, due to concerns about the baby - she was absolutely desperate to get on her feet again post op simply to go out for a cig. She had smoked right through.
I do wonder what all those young folk taking up vaping now will be doing when pregnant.

My sister was pregnant in 2011. She continued smoking throughout. She told me that the midwife told her that it was safer for the baby for her to carry on smoking than it was for her to quit because of the stress that would bring.... I did ask her if she thought I was born yesterday.

If you're going to smoke whilst pregnant, at least have the decency to own that you are making that choice. As a non smoker I really don't get it, but I do understand that addiction is hard. Personally I think you should quit before trying for a baby, as I imagine it is harder to quit once pregnant!

I was born in the early 80s. My mum 'smoked a bit less and tried not to properly inhale' apparently. She was also advised to have a tin of guinnes a day for iron levels. I was born early by a week or so at 5lb7oz.

My DM gave up smoking when she was expecting me, but only because it made her nauseous; DF was just out of the army, where cigarettes had been issued with other rations.
He rolled his own cigarettes for years, and kindly taught me that useful skill. I fondly remember the aroma of Old Holborn. When a new carpet went into the front living room, in the 70's, DM selected a carpet in the same shades of orange, yellow and brown, so that the scraps from rolling up would be less conspicuous.
I remember the fog billowing out when visiting the Staff Room at break time to speak to a member at staff, (girls' grammar school) and when I started teaching, it did not raise comment if a teacher settling down to a pile of marking after the children had gone home, would light up at their desk.
Smoking while on playground duty was gently discouraged, but I suspect this was more because of the risk of a lit cigarette catching a passing child than the risk of passive smoking.

Could say the same about drinking alcohol and yet many people still drink knowing it has zero benefits and lots of medical and sometimes social issues. Also such a waste of money.

I remember my dentist smoking in the 70s, also teachers!

Physiological jaundice is normal, pathological jaundice requiring admission for a month for treatment isn't normal.