I smoke. I'm Pregnant, I need to stop. I need to know what damage I have already done.

[needtostop]

I am 24 weeks pregnant.

I used to smoke 15 - 20 a day.

I'm now smoking between 2 and 8 a day.

I have had a few days where I have smoked as many as 10-12.

I need to know how much damage I might have done to the baby?

Could I have already of made him ill.

Ive just been in so much denial but really really want to stop.

Can I use patches?

If I stop now could I turn things around or is it too late?

ooh, I really am being devil's advocate here . Can't believe I am sticking up for smokers!

But I think nicotine addiction is very difficult to fight. You can get cigarettes anywhere, with no hassle. One moment of weakness and you can get your nicotine fix again, and be back on the wagon.

My aunt died of lung cancer, and my uncle carried on smoking. I could never understand why, until I became a smoker. I think that nicotine addiction is so subtle - the withdrawal effects are actually NOTHING compared to what you think they are going to be - and it was reasonably socially acceptable until relatively recently. It really is an ADDICTION, and lets not belittle that by saying you should quit, so quit. Smokers think they are missing out by not smoking, that is the crux of the addiction.

So lots of pregnant people beat themselves up about smoking. So do people with heart problems, breathing problems etc. If it was so easy to quit - i.e. it's bad for me, so I will stop - then why hasn't every smoker stopped after reading the horrible warnings on cigarette packets?

Totally understand NTS. But really don't be ashamed, I also stopped easily with my first (without Allen!) but found it sooo hard with my second (and she's fine btw). The main thing is that you know you need to stop and are going to do your best by your baby to do it. I wish you all the very best with it

PS keep us updated how you get on x

Thanks so much for your input today, it has helped enormously.

Whoever said smokers feel they are missing out is true.

I dont feel like Im giving up something that is bad for me rather im losing something dear to me - at my worse moments I cant imagine life without it and how my life would work

I would just carry on smoking. It is only a baby. Your need comes first.

Now, how did that make you feel? Like you had permission to carry on or protective of your baby?

Do the right thing. Get some help, no more buying cigarettes and BE STRONG.

Good luck.

Think to remember is that any drug will create a false need...you smoke/eat chocolate , drink coffee..whatever, and you feel relieve and even happier, then this false emotion, obviously, leaves us when it leaves the bloodstream, creating the need for more...so, we are trying to fill a need we created in the first place by using whichever drug...

Also, a lot of people say, oh I my habit is an emotioanl one...and well....ususllay if you do have a habit you actually do it all teh time, and if you are happy you celebrate with it, and if you are sad you need it to console you, and if you are stressed you need it to relief the stress...and so on and on...so, really we don't just do it in emotional times...it's an excuse we use (guilty as charged...chocolate in my case)

NTs - something I did (can't remember which of the MANY books on quitting it was that I got this from was everytime I got a withdrawal pang, I thought "Great! That's the nicotine leaving - soon I will be free of cigarettes." It gives a positive spin to the withdrawal, but you DO need to be in a wanting to quit frame of mind to do it
Good luck!

Also (I am recently quit - can you tell?), remember when youdidnt smoke - did you need a ciggie when you were bored, stressed, drinking etc etc then? No, you didnt think about them AT ALL.

That is how you will be too if you stop. You won't even notice what you think you are missing out on.

Nicotine isnt hard to fight - been there and done it.

BAD HABITS are hard to fight....
"i'll just make a cuppa, then I'll have a cigarette"
"i'm on my walk to work - now's the time for another cigarette"
"oh, it's 10.30am - time for another cigarette"
"right, lunch finished - time for the next cigarette"
"hmm, I've got 4 ciggies left, where can I go to get some more, otherwise I can only have one now, then one on the way home, then wait until after dinner - have half then, and half before bed, otherwise I wont have one for first thing in the morning and I wont be able to get any until at least on the walk to work..."

Sound familiar????

Use smoking as a schedule for the day - it'll be hard to beat. So,CHANGE THE SCHEDULE!!!!!

AND MAKE YOURSELF WANT TO DO IT.

And please stop with the "thankfully the birthweight thing is fine..." My mum (smoker....) used to say to me when I was pg with DS after having Dd who was 9lb 13oz "if you had smoked through your pg's it would have been better because you'll have had smaller babies" grrrrrr

Scare tactics don't work.

But there are lots of snippets from Allen Carr here

Please do read it and if you do want to chat I'm on ohsmellyjellyatgooglemaildotcom.

Thinking of you, please keep us updated xx

• so was it Allen carr I was quoting? I read so many I couldnt place it!

I found it hard to stop smoking when I fell pregnant. I went through several attempts to just stop but failed miserably. I read the Allen Carr easy way to stop smoking book (heard of it?) and I stopped just like that as soon as I finished the book, it was easy and I felt so proud of myself as Id been a heavy smoker before and never managed a day without smoking.
Basically the book explains alot of the mental need for a cigarette which is the hardest bit about stopping, you tell yourself your dieing for a fag but really wheres the physical feeling? There isnt one you just have that thought in your mind..fag fag fag!! A good example...you can easily sleep like a bay for 12 hours undisterbed without a cigarette but as soon as you wake up you think I need one. The physical addiction is so slight it goes unnoticed. Its all in the mind and once you get rid of any illusion you've tought yourself that cigarettes are enjoyable it really can be easy and enjoyable to stop.

Sorry for such long rambling post, I just know how you must feel. How can a cigarette control you to the extent of possibly harming your child? The exact thoughts I had.

Oh god sorry...just seen that you've been recommended the book already Oh well at least Im not the only one that owes my thanks to that book....

You say you sometimes cant imagine your life without a cigarette. Why? Explain the way they make you feel. It helps because you will soon realise they do absolutly nothing!

small steps, needtostop. take it one day at a time. just think, today i am going to get through the day without a ciggie.

how about cutting down to just 3 a day for a week ? bfast, lunch and dinner.

then down to 2, then 1, then none cos whats the point.

ok, it didn't work for me - hypnotherapy did, and i never believed it would - but it's worth trying something.

every cigarette you have you starve your baby of vital oxygen and increase it's heart rate.

can you go for a walk or have a glass of water everytime you need a cig ?

i really feel for you, its so hard ! its taken dp and me 2 years and we still crave everyday. and i smoked 10 cigs in quick succession while i was pregnant and felt very cut off from the baby - didn't really care that i could be doing it harm. how bad is that ? but i never had another after those 10, as was disgusted with self. you can do it. you can.

lornaloo - great idea! I kept a log og how I felt before and after cigarettes whe I last quit. It was really enlightening!

Need to stop.

You say you are 24 wks pregnant

Assuming you have 112 days left and currently spend £5 every 2 days you could have £280.00 to spend on yourself after baby is born.....

The nature of any addiction is that you need more and more so unfortuately cutting down generally isnt successful. It tends to make a cigarette seem more sacred because you end up really looking forward to the next one. The most frustrating thing with smoking is it can be so so hard to stop but I now know that it can also be so so easy. Its all about you and your mind and how you view a cigarette. If you dread stopping and feel you are 'giving something up' your destind to fail. If you feel confident and happy that you are going to stop after that last cigarette dont look back don't wait to be a non smoker, as soon as you finish your last cigarette you are a non smoker. You don't need to wait for something to happen it already has, the nicotine will quickly leave your body and the physical need will be gone, and if you get rid of the mental need before having your last one it will be very easy.

Rafty I did the same and it really helped me to. I kept a letter I wrote myself in my purse and read it if I ever felt the need for a cigarette, I never needed it.

*destined

Oh, oh, oh! Allen Carr, all the way! (The money thing sadly just doesn't work KD73)

I started to read Allen Carr when my dad - a lifetime smoking hater - was having surgery to allow him to have chemo and radiotherapy. I (after years of trying to quit) said to him that I would give up smoking on the first day of his treatment if he promised to keep his chin up throughout.

I started to read Allen Carr and found out I was unexpectedly pregnant a week or so before "the date". I carried on smoking, but nowhere near as much as I had been and had my last cigarette on the way up north to pick my dad up to take him to hospital for his first session of Chemo.

My son is 2.9 and I haven't smoked once since that day. I don't miss it. Allen Carr recognises why smokers feel there is no life without fags and explains why there is.

I do hope you buy the book, and I wish you luck!

winestein another example. The book really works. Buy it.

A colleague told me that pregnant women are better off having Nicotine replacement therapy-patches etc most good midwifery teams / GPs would offer you this as a free service this - mine does.
I would definately ask your M/w/ GP rather than just cutting down- as you'll still continue to smoke after your LO arrives which is just as harmful.
Don't forget you get free exemption from paying prescriptions too- more incentive.
I gave up 3 months before I concieved anbd it was flipping tough but I just about managed it with 8 weeks of patches. I still crave a cigarette - it's a horrid addiction !!

I managed to stop when i was about 6 months gone using lozenges.
The midwife told me its want power, not will power, also threw in a few fag hag phrases...

yes I gave up just like that too, after quite a lot of smoking years, but everyone IS different.

And in my second pregancy, I was much more lax generally. Although first time round I did actually avoid microwave ovens . THIS time (baby no 3) I actually forget for days at a time until I see myself in the mirror and think ah yes.

I am assuming that the OP is a namechanger btw. I do think that her motivation is a bit beyond reproach, if she is willing to go on MN and post this.

Morning everyone.

Ive just had a cigarette and it made me feel sick, going to borders today to buy allan carr.

I think, my brain is starting to change a bit - felt less able to ignore the implications of what I was doing just then.

I can do this, can't I?