Third hand smoke

[AlisonL1981]

Hi, I wondered if anyone knows any information on third hand smoke?

I'm currently visiting my mum who is a smoker. She smokes outside but her clothes smell of it.

We lost my dad last week and she is grieving badly. Having cuddles with my son is getting her through. He is 11 weeks old but was 7 weeks early.

I don't want to keep going on at her if its not necessary as she isn't coping well as it is.

There's a lot of studies available online (just google third hand smoke and infants) but honestly I think if you're uncomfortable with it, you need to be honest with your mum. There's an increased risk of SIDS (cot death) from any exposure to smoking, personally I didn't complain about my heavily-smoking MIL holding DS as a tiny baby however that was only for 10 mins or so once a week, and DS wasn't prem - if it was more frequent or if he had been early I would have felt differently.

How about if she agrees, for example, to changing her clothes and washing her hands after a cigarette? You could also ask her not to hold him for 30 mins after having a cigarette to give it time to leave her breath.