Stopping smoking is never easy at any point in your life, let alone when you are pregnant and your body metabolises Nicotine 66% faster. Determination, motivation and behaviour change seems to take a back seat to the nagging in your head for just a quick drag, or just the thought that the morning cigarette will be fine for a one off.
Stopping smoking when you are pregnant is the most important thing that you can do for yourself and your baby. Even one cigarette is one too many.
Implications
As well as the thousands of chemicals in tobacco, there is also a poisonous gas called Carbon Monoxide (CO). At every routine antenatal appointment, you are measured for this gas, through a simple breath test. Carbon Monoxide affects the body’s ability to transport oxygen around the body, which reduces the amount of oxygen available to the baby. CO crosses the placenta and enters the blood stream of the baby, increasing the risk of miscarriage and slowing the baby’s growth and development.
Other health implications include lung and breathing difficulties, still birth, premature birth, heart defects, reduced birth weight and SIDS.
The implications of smoking are reversible. When you stop smoking, Carbon Monoxide starts leaving your body within 8 hours, your baby will grow stronger, organs develop better, as well as having a healthier placenta to feed and protect your baby. It is more likely that your baby will be born on time, with 100% oxygen for your baby and a healthier pregnancy overall.
Women who stop smoking before week 15 of pregnancy cut their risk of spontaneous premature birth and having a small baby to the same as non-smokers, according to research published on the British Medical Journal website.
As an extra benefit, babies don’t come cheap so stopping smoking can also have a huge impact on your purse.
If you are planning a pregnancy, stopping smoking before you get pregnant is a good idea. You and your partner can self-refer into One You Lincolnshire for free. Alternatively, at any appointment with your midwife, she can also refer you, your partner and any family members.
You can have an appointment to suit you, face to face (where available), telephone appointments, or in a maternity setting. You will have contact with an experienced stop smoking practitioner, who can offer support and motivational behaviour change techniques. We offer a 12-week course to ensure that you are smoke-free and are happy with how your quit is progressing. Depending on need we can also offer free nicotine replacement therapy, on assessment of smoking status. We are non-judgemental, supportive and person centred. We also know that stopping smoking is not easy and can seem impossible at times, and this is where our expertise comes in , offering up hints, tips, and support.
Alison Plastow, Stop Smoking Practitioner, Pregnancy Lead
March 26, 2021
