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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Smoking while pregnant

93 replies

scardycatsmoker · 22/01/2010 21:23

Hi ladies

I'm looking for a bit of help to stop smoking - I currently smoke 10 a day and know thats too much. I want to give up all together but not sure how to. If almost 6 months pregnant and have been trying to stop on and off since finding out i was pregnant. When i have given up for a few days i end up eating like a pig and this stresses me out so i end up smoking again.

My bf smokes so that is making it harder i think. He is also worried about the weight gain if i stop and replace the smoking with eating.

Hope someone can help

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

MrsHappy · 22/01/2010 22:03

I used to smoke a lot and I loved it, and I stopped quite simply because I wanted to stop so I did. Any previous attempts were half-hearted and failed because I still wanted to smoke. What turned me right off it was those ads with a picture of an artery clogged with fat - seriously disgusting - and I used to think about how I would feel when I was 40 and had a yellow 'tache. IME it helps to find the thing that horrifies you most about smoking and concentrate on that.

If you eat when you try to stop try eating carrot sticks. Then you won't gain too much weight. But also, at 6 mo pregnant you should accept that some (quite significant) weight gain is probably inevitable (she says, looking at her straining pre-baby jeans), and tell your DH to get used to it.

And if you really want to stop, tell your midwife. If you are in the UK you will probably get a fair amount of NHS help with this.

LadyintheRadiator · 22/01/2010 22:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Remotew · 22/01/2010 22:08

Yes I am for real, why do you ask that?

BarbieLovesKen · 22/01/2010 22:14

Id say because your carrying on like a lunatic

HollyGoHeavily · 22/01/2010 22:21

Because you are spouting shit. Dangerous self-justifying shit.

Remotew · 22/01/2010 22:22

Thank you Barbie, nice of you to think that.

I was defending the myth that babies born to smokers suffer low IQ etc which is how the establishment wants to brain wash the masses into thinking. Just giving my personal experience and that of others. Makes me a loon, maybe. Suppose I was just lucky, hey?

BarbieLovesKen · 22/01/2010 22:28

Scardycat, I agree with those who have recommended you speak to your GP or Midwife. If you give up now you'll be giving your baby a huge gift - a smokeless womb and you will be increasing the oxygen available to he or she during the birth.

I understand completely how difficult it is to quit - I love smoking, I'm pregnant myself at the minute (due tomorrow actually!) but gave up when I got my BFP. If Im honest, I have to admit that I will probably be stupid enough to go back on them when baby is here - as I didnt want to give them up but had to as this was no longer just my body.

I found out my dh cheated on me at 8 weeks pregnant, have been bullied in work for being pregnant, have had the most stressful assignments/ exams for college - basically the most stressful few months of my life and times I really could have killed for a cigarette - I mean I've actually cried but Im really proud now, that I know despite all this I've really done the best by my baby and you'll be the same. Please try and if you need help - shout!!.

I know its not the best of advice, but even if you could tell yourself that your only on a break from them - for 3 months or so - until you have baby. You may find it easier that way.

I've put on ridiculous weight, I wont lie but come on - you can always go on a diet after!!

The very very best of luck

rosieposey · 22/01/2010 22:39

Thats what i was saying abouteve although clearly not very well. In the 50's ect women smoked when they were pregnant and it didn't lay the way for a nation of thickies obviously. I dont believe everything i read and have had a fairly laid back attitude in each of my 5 pregnancies with regards to a glass of wine here and there and some soft cheese (ohh get me!) I do however, also listen to the medical proffesion and make the choices myself based on facts that i have gleaned through arming myself with information and advice from doctors and midwives. Thats what you usually do when pregnant right?

Smoking when pregnant has been done, is still being done and will probably on some level continue to always be done, it doesnt make it right and sometimes you get consequences and sometimes you dont - its entirely up to you.

Armi · 22/01/2010 22:42

OP - I'm in the throes of giving up smoking and I used to bloody love it. DH and I both gave up at the start of January and it's only now that I've realised how guilty I've been feeling for years - smoking is no longer socially acceptable and it's really great to lose the burden of feeling like a social leper. I've realised that I felt guilty when I went for a fag in the back garden in case the smoke blew into the neighbour's house, I felt guilty smoking outside pubs like some sort of pariah, I felt guilty smoking in the car whilst driving (as it's illegal!), I felt guilty smoking just about anywhere in the town where I live in case any of my students spotted me, I felt guilty about hiding it from my relatives and being surly at family gatherings because I was desperate for a ciggie - I was feeling guilty all the bloody time! I can only imagine how guilty you must feel - whether you admit it to yourself or not - for smoking whilst pregnant.

Honestly - give up. The evaporation of guilt is the best bit. And it shuts up the moralising do-gooders who don't realise you're in the grip of an addiction. Oh, and the money - DH and I have worked out that by the middle of next month we will have paid for a week away at Easter...which would easily be the equivalent of an extremely flash buggy or a set of nursery furniture.

Ditch the fags and eat. Lard can be dealt with at another time.

All the best.

thisisyesterday · 22/01/2010 22:44

no-one is saying tyhat smoking will make your child "thick"

however babies whose mother has smoked during pregnancy overall tend to have a lower IQ than those that didn't

crankytwanky · 22/01/2010 22:52

Abouteve how are you helping?

If you are so bloody clever, (and I suspect you aren't) it is in spite of your mother smoking. Why would those statistics be fabricated?

If you had seen a calcified placenta, or a baby born in poor condition & tiny because of reduced liquor, you would soon change your mind!

But, of course, you're fine. So it must be bollocks.

Remotew · 22/01/2010 22:53

barbie . Sorry and well done for you, regret arguing with you now.

Can we get off the smoking thing for now after all and IMHOP it's not the worst thing in the world we can do to our bodies and I've I have said I did it and DD is fine. [smile}

Lovely to meet you all and of anyone wants a chat you know where to find me.

rosieposey · 22/01/2010 22:53

Haven't read that or been told that thisisyesterday and i do just think that it would make for quite a few children with lower IQ's in the middle part of the last century. That said it would not surprise me, I reckon that you've just got to try and have a sane (ish) middle of the road attitude when you are pregnant and try and avoid all the shite that is bad for you and by proxy your baby. Thats easier said than done though as i ate a fair bit of crap during my pregnancy and i had a high risk one due to my diabetes so im definately not perfect (just couldn't stomach anything but loads of carbs!)

trellism · 22/01/2010 22:56

Well, abouteve, you don't sound particularly intelligent to me, so I guess you weren't as lucky as you think: anyone who takes a few experiences as justification for what should be a crime (with decades and decades of evidence) is either thick, psychopathic or repressing guilt.

I bite my tongue in the breast v bottle debates, but this is not one of those: the issues here are serious and clear-cut. You ARE playing Russian Roulette with your unborn child if you smoke during pregnancy. Just because there's only one bullet in the barrel doesn't mean it's worth the risk. And be sure, anyone who tries to tell the OP that there isn't that bullet in the barrel is being horrifically irresponsible. Don't use your own weak self-justification to try and get her to do the WRONG thing. And yes, I use the word WORD unashamedly. Too many people on this forum take non-judgementality to a ridiculous degree to which even things that are black and white are treated as if they're mere "lifestyle choices". THEY'RE NOT.

Some of the commenters on this post are making me furious. We no longer have the excuse of ignorance, and so I accept these "excuses" no more than I would from any child abuser. Because make no mistake, that is exactly what someone who allows the poisons that smoking introduces through the placenta is.

Armi · 22/01/2010 22:58

I'm not sure that bouncing up and down and ranting is really going to help the OP.

Remotew · 22/01/2010 22:59

Ok! Ok! I Cannot argue with stats, just wanted to put the other side. No hard feelings but reckon what I have to say is just as valid as your arguments.

I am for real, a nice person, with a few bad habits, and also live my life how I want to and not how the government wants me to.

crankytwanky · 22/01/2010 23:01

Abouteve "can we get off the smoking thing now"... er, no! That's what the thread is about!

It's not the worst thing you can do to your body, fair enough, but it's not your body! It's the body of the person inside you that matters!
Fill yourself with skag for all anyone cares, but one has a duty of care to their unborn baby. It doesn't have a voice. As the adult the OP has to do the very best for her child.

trellism · 22/01/2010 23:04

Also, think of it this way. Even if smoking did no harm at all to the baby, it still hurts you.

Remotew · 22/01/2010 23:07

tresllism, I never said I was intelligent, my level of education is only to degree level I said that my daughter was, I'm not going into the stats. There is also a level on emotional intelligence that you may not have heard of, but guess it's easier to ignore over the internet.

All I was saying is that I smoked in pregancy and my DD is fine, actually if we want to discuss it better than fine. lol

crankytwanky · 22/01/2010 23:08

Abouteve you should change your name to Aboutme. YOU should have stopped smoking during pregnancy for your daughter's health. Not carried on regardless to make some pathetic "stand" against the nanny state.
The government doesnt want pregnant women to smoke because SCBU places and paeds cost a bomb. And that's where babies of smokers go more often than not.

Remotew · 22/01/2010 23:14

Actually smoking is self diagnosis and much better than being on AD's which most people resort to. No that I have but I certainly wouldn't look down on anyone who did which is how everyone one of you have done to me.

Remotew · 22/01/2010 23:21

Cranky, she is know 16! Shite I really messed up by smoking, didn't I by rights she should be dead now or at least some kid with learning difficulties.

No reality is different and I wont go into how so far different it is. In your wildreams. (G&T) etc, sorry this sounds so bad just get sick of single mum, free spirit, we are doomed and in reality we arn't but I worked hard for it.

rosieposey · 22/01/2010 23:23

Nooo abouteve, Im not looking down on you as you are entitled to your opinion but it is as has already been said dangerous to say that smoking when pregnant is probably going to be ok because your daughter is and you were (and me for that matter). It is just that it wasn't known in the middle of the last century that smoking was bad for your baby and now that it is perhaps there really isn't any excuse not to give up.

I remember sitting in the ante natal clinic at the hospital with my DH pointing out all of the posters that explained the SIDS risks and low birthweight and blood flow problems and potential for asthma and stillbirth ect ect ... you get the picture. To be fair he never ever smoked around me or in the house but the reason i was adamant about him giving up was because you retain all those shitty chemicals on your breath for at least two hours after a cigarette and i didn't want it anywhere near my precious baby.

BarbieLovesKen · 22/01/2010 23:24

Thanks abouteve - am sorry - really shouldnt have snapped at you like that.

mummyscrummy · 22/01/2010 23:25

i'm struggling to understand how this thread has turned into what seems a slanging match aimed at eve.
everyone has and is entiltled to thier opinion and to express their views right or wrong and I cant help ut feel for eve. think you're being a little harsh.

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