Pregnancy health centre

Smoking during pregnancy

If your health isn't enough to make you stop smoking, then the health of your baby should be. Smoking during pregnancy affects you and your baby's health before, during, and after your baby is born. The nicotine (the addictive substance in cigarettes), carbon monoxide, and numerous other poisons you inhale from a cigarette are carried through your bloodstream and go directly to your baby. Smoking while pregnant will:

• Lower the amount of oxygen available to you and your growing baby.
• Increase your baby's heart rate.
• Increase the chances of miscarriage and stillbirth.
• Increase the risk that your baby is born prematurely and/or born with a low birth weight.
• Increase your baby's risk of developing respiratory ( lung) problems.

The more cigarettes you smoke per day, the greater your baby's chances of developing these and other health problems. There is no "safe" level of smoking while pregnant.

How does secondhand smoke affect pregnancy?

Secondhand smoke (also called passive smoke) is the combination of smoke from a burning cigarette and smoke exhaled by a smoker.

The smoke that burns off the end of a cigarette or cigar actually contains more harmful substances (tar, carbon monoxide, nicotine, and others) than the smoke inhaled by the smoker.

If you are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke, you increase your and your baby's risk of developing lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, allergies, asthma, and other health problems.

Babies exposed to secondhand smoke may also develop reduced lung capacity and are at greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

How can I stop smoking before or during pregnancy?

There are many stop smoking programmes available to help you stop smoking. Ask your GP for more information about these programmes.

Here are some tips that may help you kick the habit:

• Hide your matches, lighters, and ashtrays
• Designate your home a non-smoking area
• Ask people who smoke not to smoke around you
• Drink fewer caffeinated drinks; caffeine may stimulate your urge to smoke. Try to avoid alcohol, as it may also weaken your resolve to stop smoking and it can be harmful to your baby
• Change your habits connected with smoking. If you smoked while driving or when feeling stressed, try other activities to replace smoking
• Keep mints or chewing gum (preferably sugarless) on hand for those times when you get the urge to smoke
• Stay active to keep your mind off smoking and help relieve tension: take a walk, exercise, read a book, or try a new a hobby
• Look for support from others. Join a support group or stop smoking programme
• Do not go to places where many people are smoking.

Can I use a nicotine replacement during pregnancy?

Nicotine gum and patches release nicotine into the bloodstream of the smoker who is trying to stop. Although these products can reduce withdrawal symptoms and decrease cravings in smokers who are trying to stop, the safety of these products hasn't been adequately evaluated in pregnant women.

Ideally, pregnant women should stop smoking without using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). However the NHS advises GPs to offer NRT to a pregnant woman if this seems essential to help her stop. The potential benefits of not smoking are likely to outweigh the risks of either carrying on smoking or NRT. Intermittent-dose formulations (eg - nicotine gum, spray, lozenge or inhalator) are preferable to patches, because these will minimise the nicotine that the foetus is exposed to. If patches are used, they should be removed before going to bed at night.