How much more incentive do you need to quit??....

[Loosehead]

I found this unbeleivable, why do they think so little of the life they carry?

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13408971,00.html

[LeMarchand]

This is going to sound very "classist", but it would be interesting to get some figures on the economic and social backgrounds of that 1/3rd who carry on smoking through pregnancy.

[mullein1]

its not that easy to stop smoking..i have smoked since i was 15 and i am now 49..and allthough i have tried i find it difficult..especially as i really enjoy sitting and having a smoke..and yes i smoked when i was pregnant and produced a 9 pound 2 ounce healthy baby..i admire those that can stop it takes great willpower..unfortunately i am lacking in that department..and no neither my daughter or husband smoke..so its not catching...

[boobesque]

i gave up smoking way before i got pregnant, my little boy was born 3 months early weighing 3lb, (due to a medical prob not smoking) In the special care unit i had a girl ask me if my baby was 3lb cos i smoked when i was pregnant, i was horrified as she went on to tell me she smoked around 30 a day while pregnant, gave birth at full term and that her son was only 3lb, she was told by the midwife that it was down to smoking.

[delboy3]

My sister smoked all the way through her four pregnancies, and produced four healthy, strapping children. Yet our mother, who has never smoked, is now dying of cancer. Work that one out.

[georgit79]

dlboy3- whilst it's sods law that stuff like you have mentioned is bound to happen (my stepsister's mum died of cancer having not smoked a single cigarette in her life), it still makes good sense to quit smoking during pregnancy.

OK, so it may be hard to stop, but it all boils down to the fact that you have another life growing inside of you, and you have to decide whether or not you want to carry on being selfish and potentially causing great harm to your unborn child. Just think about this- if your sister had produced four children who all went on to develop chronic asthma and have heart and lung problems in their teens, wouldn't it all look a bit different?

[metagirl]

my mother wouldn't even take basic painkillers (that were prescribed by her OB/GYN) during her 5 pregnancies out of fear of what would happen to her babies. it really is all up to the mother - i'm afraid.

[Jooleebobs]

Women who continue to smoke throughout their pregnancy are an absolute disgrace in my opinion. I am sure they wouldn't dream of going up to a newborn baby in a pram and blowing smoke directly at them yet they think nothing of poisoning their unborn child growing inside them. If you really want to stop smoking then you do, it's as simple as that. Basically the women (and their partners by the way who smoke around them) are saying that them having a fag is more important than the health of their child.

By the way I am a parent and did not drink, take any painkillers or eat any of the foodstuffs you're not supposed to during my pregnancy. My son is now one and I will not allow anybody to smoke around him now either.

[stevie21]

I've never smoked so can't comment on how easy or difficult it is to give up but surely, as Jooleebobs says, you choose which is more important...
having a smoke or the health of your baby.

As much as I adore vodka if anyone's health was relying on me not drinking I'm sure I could force myself to abstain.