8 months pregnant and smelling smoke coming from next door

[Fluffydino21]

I think I want some advice on how harmful this could be to the baby (both while I'm pregnant and once they're newborn) and whether I need to take action or if that's OTT.

I live in a flat (only 1 other flat in the building below us) and the last few days I've been able to smell cigarette smoke really strongly in most rooms. My DP can't smell it so I assume it's not actually that strong and I've noticed it because of my enhanced pregnancy sense of smell! My DP has noticed that the guy's new flat mate downstairs does smoke though so it's not totally in my head.

If I can smell it, does that mean the baby is at any kind of risk from second hand smoke..? or AIBU? I'm 8 months pregnant. Is there anything I can realistically do? We own the place so can't easily move, they rent. I would have thought smoking in the property probably isn't allowed by their landlord but I don't know that for sure.

I don't think this could be at all harmful to you or the baby. Annoying though for sure.

Smoking inside will definitely not be allowed I believe this is for insurance mainly, is there any way you can find out the letting agent and make a complaint . They should be smoking outside if they must

Tell me how exactly smoke is coming through 2 layers of brick, plus plaster, plus decoration?

I think you’d need to be in the room with the smoker for it to be harming you or your baby. If it makes you feel any better, I lived in a pub from 5 years old, waaaay before the smoking ban came in, so was exposed to second hand smoke constantly. We had many, many pregnant bar staff during that time as well. No-one had any issues at all. Obviously if it can be avoided you would, but a smell of smoke that only you can smell (did you start smelling it before or after you knew the new guy smokes?) isn’t going to be enough to harm you. Even if it could, there’s nothing you could do - you can’t exactly go and ask them to stop smoking in their own home!

Do you mean how would it come through if they were smoking outside? Or how is it coming through currently?

In our case, it's coming from below through the floorboards. It's a very old flat / building so will have very limited insulation between the flats, similar to the floors of an actual house.

@CalzoneOnLegs Not all tenancies (or insurance policies) specify that a flat must be non-smoking!

It could be drifting out and in again through vents.

If the smell is so faint that your partner can’t smell it and it’s just a heightened pregnancy thing then pretty sure it won’t be doing any harm.

Second hand smoke at this level of remove won't harm your baby. In the kindest way possible you might want to chill out a bit.

If you think someone is smoking inside a flat, you might want to flag to the landlord or letting agent. But don't worry too much about your baby.

Thanks for the reassurance that it probably isn't sufficient to do anything to the baby.

I smelled it and commented on it before I knew the new guy downstairs smoked. DP just said in response to my smoke comments that he'd seen the guy smoking when he was sitting outside.

Honestly, I wouldn't be happy with this, both the fire risk and the risk of 2nd hand smoke. Could you/you partner have a friendly chat with the person? Just a hey, my partner is heavily pregnant, she's worried, we'll be bringing a newborn home soon, is there any chance you could smoke outside? A polite conversation may be all it takes. Obviously, the neighbour can do as they please, but sometimes a conversation can go a long way, and I dont think you're being reasonable! (I had a baby fairly recently so do understand)

So it turns out he's smoking shisha (we can see the pipe in the yard) which according to google is the same as 100-200 cigarettes an hour.. so tbh I'm thinking I was actually underreacting initially in regards to the risk to my baby (both while I'm pregnant and once they're here)..

The smell in our flat was so strong last night you would have thought there had been a fire in here. DP wants to go to his landlord straight away, I think we need to have an awkward conversation with him first to give him a heads up.

I think maybe he's smoking inside and outside (have seen him outside) and that would explain why the smell is EVERYWHERE across our flat. Problem is him smoking outside isn't necessarily any better as he's doing it in his yard right under our windows / boiler vent / vent into the living room etc.

Absolute nightmare. I really wish things like this weren't allowed, it's very different to someone just having the odd cigarette.