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Pregnancy

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

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:
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PuddingPenguin · 23/01/2010 09:29

The OP is a joke right?

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow · 23/01/2010 09:43

abouteve - you are very much the exception to the rule - stop spouting your anecdotal evidence. You clearly don't know much about the stats regarding smoking.

one stat is this - HALF the people who smoke WILL die of a smoking related illness.
read the Mprtality in relation to smoking study if you can face it

OP - good luck with giving up smoking - even though you're already 6 months pregnant, your baby will still benefit from you giving up.

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow · 23/01/2010 09:46

Mortality, obviously

scardycatsmoker · 23/01/2010 09:47

HI I don't get why your would say i'm a joke pp - i doubt i am the first person to smoke during pregnancy and doubt i will be the last.

I sat down with bf last night and we had a really long chat about everything. The weight thing stems from my own insecuritites about things bf has got up to in the past but he has reassured me any comments he has made have only been jokes and he didn't realise i had taken it all so seriously.

I have lied to midwife and told her i stopped already so our plan of attack is this.

Going out today to buy some healthy grub, going to get some puzzle books etc (saw this on another thread) to keep mind off smoking. More importantly im going to make an appt with midwife on monday to fess up and hopefuly she can help me out with stopping all together.

BF has said he is going to try to stop as well but if he doesn't manage he will not smoke near me so he doesn't tempt me.

Thanks for all the replies - i think i took seeing them all to make me and bf realise how important this is.

OP posts:
squishy · 23/01/2010 10:08

Well done, good luck and I think you should expect the same level of commitment to quit from your bf - if you can, why can't he?!

NeedCoffee · 23/01/2010 10:10

Glad to hear it Good luck, and remember, if you and bf both give up you could treat yourselves or buy stuff for lo

Barbie-Sorry i called you Berbie earlier!

PuddingPenguin · 23/01/2010 10:44

Sorry Scaredy, your OP honestly seemed to me to be pressing so many MN buttons I wasn't sure it was real:

-Smoking whilst pregnant
-Worrying more about weight gain than smoking
-Bf worried that his preg GF will get fat

I've probably been reading too many AIBU's though.

Good luck on stopping smoking, I really recommend the Alan Carr books, they are really effective. I'm also glad the chat with your bf went so well.

Sorry to cause offence.

Remotew · 23/01/2010 13:26

Looks of a supermodel, I wish. lol

Must admit I am going to try another quit attempt soon. Was just trying to say last night that it doesn't always follow that there are problems with smoking in pregnancy. Guess the stats are there to prove that we were just lucky.

OP good luck with your quit. Never too late to give up.

BosomsByTheSea · 23/01/2010 13:36

Abouteve. Your DD may be above average intelligence, but .....

perapera · 23/01/2010 13:39

I second the Allan Carr recommendation, although not sure it's good for your situation, cos you're supposed to keep smoking while reading it?

As well as reading the book, I also went to one of his one-day workshops where they sort of hypnotise you at the end (as a group). That was quite good.

And, I just kept telling myself that if I didn't smoke today, I could smoke tomorrow (and repeated that the next day and so on.) And I never had it in my mind that if I had one, all was lost. But that was just how it worked for me.

BosomsByTheSea · 23/01/2010 13:44

x-post. Good luck with the quitting, both of you

madamefreckle · 23/01/2010 16:15

Great news that you're taking such positive steps Scardy

Bear in mind that the worst part of the giving-up journey only lasts 2 weeks. After that, practically all of the irritability, poor concentration, increased appetite etc will have gone. You will just be left with cravings now and again which will reduce over time til you barely ever have them.

As for the positive things:

Within 8 hours
Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in blood reduce by half, oxygen levels return to normal. Circulation improves.

Within 24 hours
Carbon monoxide and nicotine eliminated from the body.

Within 48 hours
The decline in lung function and excess risk of lung cancer halts.

Within 1 month
Appearance improves ? skin loses its grayish pallor and becomes less wrinkled

Within 3 - 9 months
Coughs and wheezing declines

Within 1 year
The excess risk of a heart attack reduces by half compared to that of a smoker.

Within 15 years
Risk of heart attack falls to the same as someone who has never smoked.

(pretty scary that it takes 15 years for that to happen - so all the more reason to get started on stopping straight away.)

Let us know how you get on!

MumNWLondon · 23/01/2010 18:01

FFS he is worried about your weight gain? Well you can loose weight after a pregnancy quite easily, slightly harder to undo the permanent damage smoking can cause.

illuminasam · 23/01/2010 18:55

Another positive reason for not smoking or being exposed to secondhand smoke in pregnancy - you are much less likely to be at risk of a premature birth, which take it from me, is a nightmare you do not want to experience.

I'm an ex-smoker, some things that worked for me are:

Taking note of the situations where the desire for a cigarette arises. It could be after a meal, when your mother visits (!) etc etc. Then you need to break your behaviour so that you do something else at these times to distract yourself - go for a walk, ring a friend for example.

Wearing a rubber band on the wrist and snapping it against my skin when I felt like I was reaching for a fag.

Remembering that with every single day without fags the amount of cravings you have to endure will decrease. It may not feel like it at the time, but they will. And each craving does not last for ever, they rise and then they fall away, until the next one hits. The spaces between them get bigger and bigger very quickly.

Remembering that you will feel shtty, emotionally and physically, as your body rids itself of the toxins. Exactly how shtty you feel is directly related to the amount of poisons you have put in there. Remembering, it's the toxins coming out that is doing it and leaving a happier, healthier body behind.

Nicotine is a massively powerful addiction, second only to heroin I believe. Do not under-estimate the power of it to draw you back in. It will twist your mind to make you feel that "one is OK", it's not. Look at it as a big monster that sits on your shoulder whispering in your ear. It feeds by draining life force from you by making you smoke. The only way you get rid of the monster is to cut off the life force by not smoking. If you stick at it, the monster gets bored and hungry and goes away but not before it's put up a big fight.

If you do fall off the wagon, don't beat yourself up. Just strengthen your resolve, think of your baby and start again.

Massive amounts of luck.x

Casmama · 23/01/2010 23:40

Hi Scardycatsmoker. Well done for approaching this now and not saying oh well I've smoked this long. The last few weeks are when the baby puts on a lot of weight so not smoking now can have a big improvement.
I had one cigarette after getting a positive pregnancy test and have not had one since - my ds is almost five months old.
What I found really helpful was every time I really wanted a cigarette I thought about a baby and either forcing a cigarette between their lips or blowing smoke right into their face. I know this might sound stupid but it really did help me. Also agree with others that the first two weeks are the hardest.
You will feel so proud of yourself for each day you don't smoke that it will really be worth it.

Good luck x

Mouseplus1 · 24/01/2010 00:10

Hi Scardy.x God you've come in for some stick haven't you. I gave up 5 weeks ago and my quit date was my 20 weeks scan. I used an inhalor as I thought I'd miss doing something with my hands and its worked a treat. I smoked since I was 13 and I loved fags and if I can give up then anyone can. Try some visualisation as well like a smoke filled womb (horrible I know) but it works. defo speak to your midwife, she wont bite you! Best of luck you'll be fine x

porcamiseria · 24/01/2010 09:52

try and cut down if you cant give up, tell DP to only smoke away from you and not in house, limit yourself at the very least. good luck

I am afraid to say I failed to give up. cut down to 1 a day when PG, noy ideal but most docs say its NOT the end of the world, remeber most of our parents chain smoked with us!!!

barkfox · 24/01/2010 10:00

Just want to wish the OP best of luck in giving up - congrats for wanting to stop, and for asking for help/advice.

I'm a former heavy smoker, having smoked since I was 13. I finally gave up several years ago (now late 30s), and am very glad I did.

I don't think we are always very good at understanding risk when it comes to smoking (and other things). Smoking greatly increases someone's risk of all kinds of deeply unpleasant and life-limiting illnesses. But that doesn't mean all people will be affected in the same way over the course of their life. That's why all the stories about 'great aunt Betty smoked til she was 85 and never had a day's illness' doesn't actually contradict the stats. It's all part of the same picture. Great Aunt Betty might have experienced no obvious ill effects of smoking - but some other unlucky smokers die early deaths from lung cancer and heart disease. Smokers can never know which they might be. All we can know for sure is that our chances of being becoming ill and shortening our lives are greatly increased by smoking.

I did find giving up hard, and I don't personally think vilifying smokers helps - it makes them more likely to feel martyred, resentful, and less likely to stop, IMO. Smokers are addicts, after all - just yelling at an addict doesn't do much. In the end, I found that thinking 'sod everyone else' helped me! I thought of giving up as something I was doing for me, because I was strong and smart, and wasn't going to waste lots of money (sooo much money) on a habit that had no benefits at all, and a lot of risks.

I think getting 'distractions' like puzzle books etc is clever and a good tip. Finding things you can do easily when you are tired/grumpy and it's easy to fall back on old habits is a really good idea. I used to manicure my nails and put nice hand cream on (well, not when I was driving...)- I think smelling something lovely was a really small thing that helped quite a lot. I came to hate the smell of cigarettes on my fingers in contrast. Anyway, best of luck to the OP - I'm absolutely sure that having got to the point of wanting to stop, you will!

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