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

[hunkermunker]

See here

"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.

My, my! How forensic this thread has become!

It's this, or scrapbooking pictures of flower arrangements and bouquets from wedding magazines for my mother......

It's a hard one. I keep flitting tween on or t'other.

Roffle at Desi. indeed it has. very odd. thanks for the effort stjude, tbh i've read the whole thing and i'm not clear on where it went tits-up either. especially given that custy and i actually agree on the matter in hand. i could go into detail and pick over every little thing said but i don't think there's much to be gained from this continuing.

Hmmm, I can see the quandary, especially where your mother's concerned

Desi

Sorry Desi, couldnt resist, I have run off with your entire sandwich, greedy me.

I bid thee all a jolly good night.

erm....

whats "blowing a virtual ring"????

Or do i not want to know?

No probs aitch. Couldnt see what the problem was meself. Detracted from the delicious contentiousness of a typical hunker thread

There's a lot in this whole 'increased risk of...' ,malarkey that's very much about trying to protect yourself from stuff you can't really guarantee protection against by believing that it only happens to peole who do something 'wrong'. Putting babies on their backs reduces the risk of cot death but putting them to sleep on their front doesn't automatically mean they die. ANd you an do everything right, follow all the advice and sometimes babies still just die. But there seems to be a worrying and sad tendency, when a death occurs, to start pointing the finger at the parents straight away.

see it's not other people i'd be worried about madamez, but the parents themselves. i had a couple of realtively unusual pregnancy losses and i scoured the internet looking for a reason why this was happening to me and no-one else i knew. did i do anything wrong? what could i have done differently? etc etc etc
i would hate to be the mother of a baby who had died in its cot and who had smoked in pregnancy and read that report. she won't care about what others think, i'd imagine she'll find no harsher judge than herself. s
o a direct causal line is important in the sense that it might say to mothers 'here's what you may be risking, it's not lower birth weight, it's cot death' and perhaps that might ring truer for people.

Desi OUCH!

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i have to say though, i did stop with all 4 pregnancies and started again about a week after they were born in a happy drunken stupor

must read thread now

Have to say, think it's a shame to start again after giving up for 9 months. That's what my mum did and she still smokes now (she is nearly 60). I'd have rather she smoked when pregnant than whilst we were growing up. Both she and my dad smoked in the house and my brother and I both have sinus problems which I am sure is related to this.

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whilst i of course agree one should not smoke whilst pg, i wonder how would you enforce it. the fag police, the stub it out brigade. the information is out there surely everyone is aware smoking pg is adverse to mum and baby health, so essentially smoke through habit/choice/addiction/other reasons.

moral indignation and disapproval alone is not enough to support or compel someone to quit the ciggies

Doodle - YOU are educated, but that isn't necessarily the case for every woman.

Quite frankly, if you know the facts and the risks, and you choose to smoke anyway, then you are making your own risk accessment and taking responsibility for any consequences. (That's the generic "you", BTW). The same applies to alcohol, drugs - even sushi.

You can't ban or prohibit everything dangerous, free will will always play a part.

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