Should pregnant women be banned from smoking in light of new research?

[hunkermunker]

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"Nine out of 10 mothers whose babies suffered cot death smoked during pregnancy, according to a scientific study to be published this week. The study, thought to be one of the most authoritative to date on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), says women who smoke during pregnancy are four times more likely than non-smokers to see their child fall victim to cot death."

Personally, I find it very, very hard to understand why anybody smokes while knowingly pregnant. And yes, I know it's addictive. I speak as an ex-smoker, not somebody who has no idea what it's like to have a love affair with the evil weed.

why are you saying women should be jailed for eating sushi, other than to make some arsey point about civil liberties? by and large, when informed that eating, say, blue cheese, increases your risk of listeria and therefore harm to the baby, most women don't take the risk. they don't say 'oooh, it's too hard for me not to eat blue cheese, i rely on it when i'm stressed'.

these things are all just guidelines at the moment but if someone were deliberately flouting them then you'd have to conclude that they wished to harm the baby and that might be more relevant to the legal discussion because abortion is regulated in this country. or is it? woudl there be any repercussions to us performing an abortion on ourselves with a knitting needle, legal bods? or is that okay cos it's our body? or would people be done for illegal abortion, even on themselves? i don't know the answer to this but it is why i feel a conclusion may be important.

I don't think it would be possible to impose a ban, while at the same time allowing mothers to abort their unborn child. That's not to say I think it's ok though - I can't imagine why a pregnant woman would choose to smoke. But then I can't really understand why anyone would choose to. If you value the life of your unborn child, presumably you value your own life and those of others around you.....??

I don't think either a ban on pregnant women smoking or a general ban would work (much though I'd like the latter) simply because prohibition does not work (in fact I am pro legalising all drugs on that basis). But I don't think education is very effective. Many people I know who smoke (including dh) know perfectly well that it is very bad for them, but they have chosen to turn their back on the evidence because they feel that giving up is too difficult. So no amount of messages will work for some people, except to make those of us who live and love smokers feel more awful about it. The same is true for much of the safe sexual health messages. I was of the generation that had all the AIDS adverts at about the same time as sexual awakening, and several of my university friends had abortions. They knew about the risks they were running, it's just at the time they didn't care. For me that's what a smoker does each time they light up, and if you are preganant or around your family then you are chosing not to care not only about yourself, but about those you love. When it comes down to it the only factor that makes any difference in successfully giving up is will power (although nicoteen substitutes, support groups and other drugs can help).

And a list of foods that could possibly and rarely cause problems with a pregnancy is definitely and absolutely not the same as cigarettes. Therefore why they've been brought into it, I don't know.

Every single cigarette you smoke harms you and restricts oxygen flow to the unborn baby. And all the other physical reactions to smoking.

why is my point arsey - but your points aren't aitch? to seem to take extra special effort when replying to my posts to be mean.
If you have a point of discussion ( which you clearly do) why not just air it without the associated vitriol?

Banning it is ridiculous. If it won't be considered for the whole of society, it is pointless trying to ban specific groups from smoking. People make all kinds of poor choices re. parenting - smoking is but one. I also think too much focus is given to abstaining from smoking during pregnancy and not enough on giving up altogether. Women often start again after having their baby and whilst some women do not smoke in front of their children, many do. imo this is worse. However, I don't like to judge because I realise that it is a highly addictive drug and a social prop for a lot of people.

itsgrimupnorth, i mentioned it as whilst there is a discussion about teh rights of the born baby, over the mother that these tings should aslo be taken into consideration. It is not for comparison purposes. But rather a discussion point about civil liberties and where in fact if a line is to be drawn. why stop at cigarettes ( everyone knows the associated health risks) and not deliberate and flagrant eating of sushi?

seriously, you don't think that saying women should be jailed for eating sushi is arsey? i don't take any special care to be mean to your posts, custy, i just respond to them. as another poster has said, there is no correlation between eating foods that may increase your risk of listeria and smoking.

My mother smoked throughout her pregnancy with me and afterwards when I was born, she smoked 30 a day my Dad smoked about 60 (and still does ) I was born at 34 weeks with v weak lungs, I had chest infection after chest infection when I was young. Even today I have a cold and it's gone straight into my chest again, I know I have weak lungs and I believe part of it is to do with both my parents being heavy smokers.

I hate smoking with a passion now, I remember car journeys in the back with both parents puffing away and it was disgusting, they knew they were harming me but still kept doing it, it's is so selfish and wrong.

The other things is when I got to an age when I first learned what smoking did to you and saw the blackened lungs etc and that it shortened lives I was so upset, I used to lie awake at night thinking my parents were going to die, I would beg them to stop they would say no, I would never make my children feel like that I still get v upset when I hear my Dad hacking his lungs up.

But getting back to the original point, I don't think pregnant women should be banned from smoking, how exactly do you police this? If someone is going to smoke whilst pregnant banning it isn't going to make them stop IMHO they will still do it. Educational and support is the only thing that you can do.

I'm not trying to be arsey but what about men - smoking damages sperm. Should they be banned too - just in case they might be planning babies with their partner?

nah, you didn't custardo. there was no explanatory text, just a list of foods and a statement that women shoudl be jailed for eating them. arsey.

see all these things are interesting, ladylush, but if that research is right then tracing backwards from a cot death to prenatal care, 9 out of 10 dead babies had mothers who smoked (is that right?). if it's accurate, then it's a lot less nebulous than we've been led to believe. there have always been links made, but this seems like a big, fat one and absoultely devastating if you lose your child and know that you also smoked. heaps of different things may have factored into a cot death, but i feel sorry for any mother who smoked and lost a child reading this news report today.

Personally, I know A LOT of people who smoked when pregnant. Most of them have had healthy pregnancies, sailed through everything, had healthy babies, who have gone past the risk age of cot death (so the books say). Are they lucky?

I know people who ate nearly everything on that list, sushi, peanuts, unpasturised ice-cream etc and go on the have problem free pregnancies and healthy children. Are they lucky?

I lost weight before TTC so I would be healthier, I quit my few-and-far-between alcoholic drinks. I got my husband to stop smoking. We never went anywhere smoky. I quit all the foods I knew I wasn't allowed to eat. I didn't do anything dangerous, I was a golden pregnant girl. I had a SHIT pregnancy, I was in and out of hospital. I ended up with a section. At one point I was panicking about a miscarriage because I came in contact with slapped cheek syndrome which has a risk of miscarraige. If I had lost my baby, would it have been my fault for not being careful enough? Was I just unlucky?

I know that is slightly off topic of smoking, but wanted to share!

I think the idea of banning pregnant women from smoking it is a hard idea - it would be impossible to enforce, and I do not like the ideas of certain sections of the population being penalised for one thing, while the other sections aren't. Takes us back to the dark ages really.

However, I do wish that pregnant women would give up, and I am not making sweeping statements with this, but I know women who smoke and just do not give a shit about the consequences, and that is what sits uneasy with me.

Yes (and I really wasn't being arsey by the way)I don't dispute the link. I suppose I was just thinking about the banning issue and about how it could then be extended further to apply to men, for example. I'm not sure if it's true but I heard that male sperm damaged by smoking (the men, not their sperm!)can cause m/c or fetal abnormalities.

gingerninja - I said earlier about stopping smoking full stop but an unlikely idea for govenment backing.

aitch of course you are entitled to your view, I am sorry you feel you have to express yourself that way.

i totally know you weren't being arsey, ladylush.

what way, custy? god, for someone so avowedly 'straight-talking' you seem to have a very thin skin indeed. what on earth are you talking about?

I ate sushi, smoked occasionally and had liver pate on toast when knowingly pregnant and I did a hell of a lot worse before I found out.

Lock me up and throw away the key!

the thickness of my skin is neither here nor there now is it. The tone of your posts towards me in particular caused me to be taken aback because in no way did i think i gave cause for such an attitude. If i had posted with vitriol,anger, vulgarity, etc then maybe it would be a shrug of the shoulder rather than comment to you at all.

sorry if I have missed it...but if it was banned who is going to police it??

My japanese friend was aghast to find out we were advised not to eat sushi when pregnant. I am struggling to equate the avoid sushi/soft cheese etc advice with smoking - different league of risk surely?

Shudder when I see my heavily pregnant neighbour puffing away on her joints and cigarettes. But agree a ban is not the way forward infringes womens liberties and too hard to enforce.

Aitch is, 2shoes, can't you tell

well, "banned" in essence would mean tere would have to be a law passed, so te police wold have to be informed after being given regular information from healthcare professionals through tests at antenatal appointments. Which would have to be compulsary ( another law!) to attend - so said screening would take place.

I would think.

Sorry, perhaps that wasn't the wisest thing to post - Aitch's and Custardo's good-humour appear to have left the building. I would suggest they calm down but it's getting interesting...