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.

It's amazing how many people put their own 'spin' on a statement.

Freedom of choice is there and we all may choose.

As I said earlier and more than once, I do not advocate smoking.

I do however have a strong resistance to the holier than thou attitude of some people on here, it is my right to hold to that belief as it is your to deny it.

I am sure there are people on here who are equally as knowledgeable and educated in the field as myself and that their views will vary.

Thank you all for an illuminating thread.

This remnds me of an interview with (IIRC) esther rantzen many years back- i think the topic was a recent accident where driver who caused it couldnt be charged with kiling a baby who died at 39 weeks because of the way the law stands (I think this was also relevant in the Omagh bombings, wasn't it? twins iirc?). Anyway, interviewee (probably ER but my brain is pickled...) was asked that if the law should allow an unborn child to be considered as killed in these cases, surely effects how their Mothers had to behave (I think suggestion was post 36 weeks)- her answer was 'and your problem is....'

And I rememebr thinking, yep fair enough.

Although at the time I was working with an alcoholic PG woman who had admitted trying to kill her own baby in utero by beating and was still drinking so heavil she was comatose after 9am (and her 6 kids fending for themselves). So maybe I have seen too much of the toehr side to be completely rational on it- sitting eharing a woman due same day as I was at the time talking matter of factly how next time she was going to get her XH to hit the babya s he was stronger, kinda sends you reeling.

would it really be impossible for the tobacco industry to make cigarettes with a low amount of nicotine, which gets lower and lower, weaning the smoker off slowly. anyone know

Affects

clearly

Actually something just occurs to me, with all the smokers who see the research and take their stance, even claiming benefits of smoking.

This thread should be read by health professionals. In fact, I am sure they already know and this is why there has been no point in reports like this making the headlines.

This is exactly why women will continue to smoke when pregnant. I will go as far as to compare them to that bird to puts its head in the sand.

I dont think I have ever before seen more of a "la la I dont want to listen, tra lala" attitude amongst grown up and intelligent women.

This is why education will not work.

This thread PROVES that education will not work. In fact, pouring government money into awareness campaigns is a waste.

What alternative is there?

sea i am certain they could, but think about the money they make through addictin....

as the author Tom Holt puts it...

once money becomes involved, ethics becomes a county in Anglia, mispronounced

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that's so true peachy, if only one manufacturer would though

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Juuuuuuuule, I'm not aware of any plans to release research that says smoking is a good idea though, so it's not quite the same as the peanut thing.

plutonium?? and there's me worrying about cyanide.

quit smoking boot camps? like the priory

That might be so Hunker but you can see why some advice is taken by some with a pinch of salt and more so, I would expect, if that person was actively looking for a reason not to stop what they are being advised to stop.

ahh - of course women who smoke while pg are just thrown into one "catergory" - of course none of them want to quit, or try to quit, or feel guilty about the fact that they can't stop etc etc.

And regardless of whether you think people use smoking as a "stress" reliever or not - some people do - the hell and back I went through with DS3's pg (which was the pg I didn't managed to quit at all) I needed something. There were some days I threw my lighters away and chucked the cigarettes in the bin.....only to find myself heading for the bottle. I fished the cigarettes back out the bin and bought a new lighter - so yes I suppose I did "choose" to smoke, but only in the sense that I want to at least be sober to look after my older DS's.

Of course I have to live with the guilt that I smoked during pg, and any future health consequences to my children (particularly DS3) - but it wasn't for lack of bl**dy trying.

Banned, no. Sorry only read OP and a smattering of others.

I don't think it should be banned for lots of probably mixed up ideas to do with individual rights, freedoms, nanny state, blah blah. But also, how the hell would you police it?

patches and gum were utter shte for me - did b#gger all at all to stop my cravings or make trying to quit easier.

custy, what do you mean '(see CSI thread)'?

what csi thread? do you mean '(see Desi's comment about forensics')?

what is going on here, because it sure as fuck isn't related to anything i said to you on this thread. as detailed by saintjude (whoever she is), i had barely spoken to you before you accused me of being vitriolic and mean.

i've asked you to CAT me, i've asked you to draw a line under this, and you persisted by cherry-picking this and that from our exchanges.

do you really want me to go through the thread picking out all the people who've said that you're being weird about this? more than half of whom, for the record, i haven't a clue who they are because they're newbies or namechangers.

this is undignified and embarrassing, i only hope that people take the time to read the whole thread so they can see where i so grossly violated you. and then perhaps they'll tell me too, cos i don't have a clue.

It's not a choice. My mother couldn't give up smoked 60 a day right through emphesyma and only stopped in hospital when the lung cancer was killing her off. Addictions are very hard to treat and they aren't very much to do with choosing or not to take a particular product. If they were simple people like my brother and father who are psychiatrists would have a very easy time in their job.

That isn't an excuse for pregnant mothers trying to give up and many do find that's the best time to start and stick to giving up and anyone trying to argue smoking is good isn't really likely to win. Arguably when more people smoked people were less aggressive but I'd rather than the aggression

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Aitch, I have followed the whole thread, I was present when the bizarre exhcange followed between you and Custy, and I am bewildered too. I dont want to take sides, but from an outsiders point of view who knows neither of you well, the way I see it, you were taking part in a discussion, and an another poster (Custy) joined the debate with some posts which was quite hard to see the logic in, and you responded to that. I did not think you were mean, nor vitriolic. I do not know how or why the discussion derailed from there.

Other posters, Custy included have provided a post by post account of events, still it is hard to fathom exactly what is going on here.

nor did i think it, scary, thanks. it's a shame, not pleasant for anyone.

Some very thoughtful posts on here. I quite agree with Xenia. Some people can't give up. I would put myself in that category, but since I've never actually tried, I will reserve judgement on my own proclivities!

As I try to do with others. I have sympathy with all viewpoints. If you think I'm a bad mother, so be it. You have a point.

But the only person who can really answer that question, in ten, twenty, thirty years time, is my own child. And there but for the Grace of God go all of us.

With regard to the Custy/Aitch exchange, I agree with Starry, and others. I'm utterly clueless.

To say you can't give up though is nonsense. It may be hard and you may not have the will power to succeed but it is not a physical imposibility else no one would ever quit. It doesn't matter if you smoke one cigarette a day or 100, if you're addicted you're addicted but breaking that addiction is as much a mental process as a physical one. I quit about 5 years ago and yes it is tough but at the end of the day if you want to you will and can do it.

Fuck me, there's nothing more sanctimonious than an ex-smoker, is there?

Yes and bloody proud of it

Well done!

There are few pleasures I would defer for an extra ten years in an old people's home.