Smoking while pregnant

[Eimz]

I am really beating myself up about the smoking. I am currently 18weeks pregnant and smoker , since I found out I was pregnant I have really cut back a lot. I do not smoke a full cigarette I ask my partner or friends for a couple of drags.. all day in work I don't smoke it's just when I'm home. Does anyone know how truly harmful this is for the baby? I know people who smoked during pregnancy a lot more then me.. I know I cant justify my smoking but I really am only taking pulls and then literally downing a gallon of water to try make myself feel better :(
I've loads going on I've failed my driving test and an exam I was doing and my partner is between jobs and my mam is fighting with me and sometimes I just need the odd drag or two too calm me down

2 and a half years ago I started a thread on site stuff asking for a proper expert to come and do a webchat on stopping smoking in pregnancy. MNHQ got to the point of agreeing it was a good idea but they never did anything.

Threads like this are exactly the reason I started that thread and I will keep asking, I won't drop it.

If you are a pregnant woman who smokes and would like MN to be somewhere you can get support to quit, please consider posting a comment.

If you are someone who actually cares about the health of women and children more than you care about your righteous right to point a finger and judge, please consider posting a comment.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/2984138-Please-can-we-have-someone-really-sensible-on-to-do-a-webchat-about-smoking-in-pregnancy

Try patches

we had all paid for the food and the lady was clearing up the table the place was busy and I would have been sat on my own.

You went for a smoke rather than be on your own, for a few minutes

I am a smoker and was very lucky (or unlucky as some may view it) to have awful morning sickness and the thought and smell of smoke made me sick to my stomach. As soon as I got the positive pregnancy test result I immediately started vaping. Which in the end also made me vomit. That's how I quit.

When the sickness subsided I did start wanting them again but every time I thought I wanted one I looked online at the risks to baby to remind myself why I was doing it.

We all have our vices, but this one is just so hard to quit. I really do feel for you. You do have it in you to quit. I promise you do!

It doesn't help with the people around you smoking. You need to come down hard on them. They are being massively unsupportive and you need to tackle that.
You need to make them see that if they cared for you or the baby then they would avoid smoking around you.

Good luck and congratulations. You can do this, it's bloody hard but stick with it.

Your poor, poor child. A mother who poisons their unborn child so that they don’t have to sit on their own for ten minutes. A wider family who give not one shit about anything other than their disgusting, poisonous habit.

Your focus is on smoking while pregnant. I’d be looking wider at the world you’re bringing this child into and the selfish, selfish people (you included) who inhabit it.

@Eimz I was 20. I moved house and used public transport or my legs to avoid being around smokers. You’re making excuses. It’s fine if you don’t want to quit but don’t wibble on about how important your baby is then smoke rather than sit at a table by yourself ffs!

They shouldn’t be smoking around you

It doesn't help with the people around you smoking. You need to come down hard on them. They are being massively unsupportive and you need to tackle that.
You need to make them see that if they cared for you or the baby then they would avoid smoking around you.

Meh. While there is an element of truth regarding support I think it's a bit content productive to lay the blame elsewhere. OP hasn't continued to smoke because of others, she has continued to smoke because she has made a choice to do so.

Yes, it can be hard, but it's the very first thing you can do for your child; before they are even born. It's called being a good parent. Putting the child's health first.

Hi op, congratulations on your pregnancy.
I'm in Ireland too and have been offered access to the hse stop smoking programme through a hospital in Dublin( while I was ttc).
I quit a few times while we were trying, fell off the wagon( I smoked for roughly 12 years). I'm now pregnant, I was literally smoking when I looked at my preg test, when I saw the two lines I stubbed it out and haven't touched one since. I too feel very guilty for ever smoking at all.
You can quit, you're stronger than you think. it's the best thing that you can do as a mam right now. The cravings are a bitch, but it's just swapping the bad feelings of guilt for cravings, the cravings will pass, the guilt probably not.
If you ask the gp or hospital, they'll give you a quitting pack with loads of info, I think there's a website too. At the end of the day though you are the only person responsible for what you do, you just need to find the willpower. Good luck 🍀

My husband has a chest condition due to his mum smoking whilst pregnant.
OP you can't get irate when someone replies to say how bad it is. You already know.
It's beyond selfish.

I'm trying to sympathise with OP because addiction is addiction but you CAN just quit and you should.

You seem to come back with a lot of excuses so to me it looks like you just want people to say what a good job you've done cutting back and that smoking a little bit is still okay but it isn't.

You're a grown woman, there is more than enough support out there for you if you want it, think of your unborn child.

I haven't read the replies here.....
I quit at 13 weeks. I had cut down to one of two a week before that but the guilt was horrendous. I have spend a lot of time on my own as by bf smokes and best friend smokes. But when I've seen them I remind myself of the horrendous guilt feeling and also how much healthier I feel since quitting.
I hate the thought of my baby taking all the many cancer inducing chemicals in to his tiny developing system. Nicotine messes up the development of the respiratory system. Babies of smokers are born smaller and this could be because the placenta is over growing trying to provide a better blood and oxygen system for the baby.
Just tell yourself right now you have had your last one and keep that promise atleast until the baby is born.

You can't blame other's actions for your own behaviour. When I was younger, I worked in the hospitality industry. After shifts ended, there was always a house party. 9 out of 10 people did drugs at them. Did I join in as to not be left out? No. Wasn't worth it. I was offered every time, but said no.

I understand it's harder when you're already addicted to x substance, but there has to come a point where you rise above peer pressure. No one else should be expected to quit for your benefit. The only people who need to quit is OP, for her unborn baby's health. Her partner needs to hugely cut down at the very least and change clothes, smoke outside etc once the baby is here. And her mum needs to smoke away from baby and change clothes too. Of course, it would be great if they all stopped, for baby's benefit and their own.

But it's a bit rich to judge others for smoking around you when you are still smoking yourself. Directly inhaling smoke is worse than second hand smoke.

And really, if you can't sit on your own for 5 mins, are you mature enough to be a mum? Who knows.

Absolutely disgusting.
Poor dc.

Your partner will have to stop too esp when your baby is here, parents who smoke the baby is higher risk of cot death.
Think u and your partner both need to go to talk to your midwife and listen to the risks you both are doing to your baby,she will help u stop and the gp can help your partner. Your parents now your child has to come first no matter how hard it is.

I'm an ex smoker so I understand the addiction and how hard it is to quit, I really do.

I went cold turkey without the added incentive of being pregnant though so it's cerrainly possible (and that was 14 years ago). I couldn't even consider carrying on smoking while pregnant....neither for the health risks or the wasted money.

I also like a drink and stopped that the second I found out. It's been tough over Christmas, new year and my birthday but I did it. Nothing is impossible.

Your partner and friends should be doing more to support you (I would refuse point blank to give a pregnant woman even one puff of a cigarette) but, ultimately, it is your responsibility to put the health of your unborn child first. If that isn't incentive enough to quit then I really don't know what is x

@LittleDragonGirl
Actually it's definitely not just the nicotine that's harmful to the baby. The main harm is carbon monoxide which effectively destroys red blood cells (prevents them from absorbing oxygen). That's what the midwife tests for when OP blew into the straw, not carbon dioxide. Nicotine patches etc are much much better than smoking (obviously quitting altogether is best). It's really misleading to let someone think, well the nicotine alternatives are just as bad so I might as well smoke. Absolutely not true

@Delbelleber
Well done for quitting! But btw it is not the nicotine that messes up the respiratory system. It is the carbon monoxide in the smoke.

OP, get help and advice, and definitely consider nicotine alternatives like patches, gum etc if you struggle to quit otherwise. They are so so so much less harmful to the baby. I'm a science teacher and it's part of my subject, students these days learn which different parts of tobacco smoke cause which problems.

My mum smoked whilst pregnant with me and my sister.

She then smoked with my brother (7 years ago). She also drank whilst pregnant with him though and ended up with an emc after a placenta failure

You are 18 weeks. 18 weeks.

Do something about stopping - if it was 4 drags yesterday, 3 today and tomorrow and so forth.
You can do it

we had all paid for the food and the lady was clearing up the table the place was busy and I would have been sat on my own.

So?

Try vaping instead. You can get the juice with zero nicotine. Good luck, it is very hard for some people but it is will power and your mind set x

PS
OP, re-reading the whole thread I think @PencilsInSpace has the best advice, just follow that and ignore some of the other PPs (lots of horrid judgement and pseudoscience on this thread!!) I can imagine it is really hard to try and quit when everyone around you is smoking, and you're so young, and even eg your mum smokes in the car with you. You're on your own in this mission and that means you're brave and can be proud when you succeed 👏 it'll be worth it

Nicotine is most definitely harmful to the feotus