Outside the Rotunda...

suicide_circus

What's the story with the constant stream of expectant mothers standing outside the Rotunda smoking their brains out?
I pass the place several times a week and i guess i just thought that smoking during pregnancy was all but extinct. Judging by the amount.of pregnant mums i see puffing away however, its anything but.

Zulu

I think they're smokers who didn't bother giving up when pregnant. My guess is that they don't care/couldn't care less.
What of it?

seamus

People with less education give less of a ****. Their mothers smoked when they were pregnant and it "caused me no harm", all their mates smoke while pregnant, so they have no good reason to stop.

There's also a social idea in poorer areas that becuase smoking causes a low birth weight, this results in an easier birth. So in some cases smoking while pregnant is actively encouraged by family & friends.

Princessa

Uuuuuuuuuh it frustrates me sooooooooo much. My OH is sick of hearing me ranting about it. Its disgusting, fair enough if you want to fill your lungs with crap but you shouldnt force your beautiful growing baby to be subjected to all those toxin and crap basically. Their little lungs are only growing and developing.

girl in the striped socks

It's not easy for some women to give up. I know some don't even try & there's a sense of "well one more wont do any harm".
I used to smoke if I was having a drink. Naturally enough both are knocked on the head now. But what I find very strange is that I'm getting cravings for a cigarette nearly everyday.
I know of three women that drank & smoked excessively throughout all of their pregnancies but for me personally it's something I wouldn't even dream of doing.

And I have to say there's nothing more disgusting as seeing a pregnant woman puffing away.

Tigerton

I still crave cigarettes sometimes if I'm having a bad day. Could not bring myself to have one since I got pregnant though. There's no excuse I think.

Was in prenatal ward last night for the night in Rotunda - girl in bed opposite me had had a bleed and was still nipping out for a smoke. I was not impressed!!! The poor little babas are too young to smoke!!!!!

Rachineire

It does upset me to see pregnant women smoke!! I was smoking nearly 15-20 a day before I found out I was pregnant- I cut down to next to nothing right after I got the positive and stopped totally after a week! It's not fair of me to force my choices on my innocent unborn child! It's not easy but it's not impossible to stop! Gah! Rant over!

Princessa

Thats brilliant Rachineire. Im not a smoker and i know its not easy for people to quit as it is an addiction and you do have nicotine craving and what not but sooooo many women do it for the sake of their babies that it makes me think well its not something thats absolutely impossible.

A girl i knew smoked 20 a day for her whole pregnacy, her little fella developed asmatha at 9m old now i am certainly not saying the two are connected as plenty of kids get asmatha in smoke free families but as a mum it would cross my mind.... did my smoking cause this. Thats a hard cross to live with always wondering.

Rachineire

What I always thought is if my smoking did something to my baby I could never forgive myself. Also smoking near baby can raise the risk of SIDS by nearly half and I don't want baby to get asthma or have poor lungs! Also its expensive and that money can be put to much much better use! I don't plan on picking them back up after I have baby- I had been wanting to quit for a while before I found out I was pregnant, was always too scared to!

KGLady

The smoking out there at the main door isn't as bad as it used to be. Most of them are now in a little smokers hut in the garden in the centre of the hospital, always passing them on the way to the SP Clinic and while its a shame to see for the babies' sakes its not the worst. The ones out front popping out for a dodgy looking 'handshake' with their dealers are the ones that really piss me off.

GuestUser2012

Folks,

I'm an X smoker who is now Pregnant. I smoked for 10 years and gave up about five years ago. Remember there is actual scientific proof that smoking causes distress to the baby . Drink yes, smoking yes - if you do not believe me then look it up.
smoking after the 16th week of pregnancy has been statistically proved to cause both mental and physical retardation in a small number of cases in late childhood. It damages the placenta
http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=100


I'm not uneducated and I'm not smoking on my pregnancy. My mother had 7 children, she smoked on 6 of us and quit halfway through on my brother john. He was born with severe complications listed above that they couldn't explain other than that the stress on the mother giving up and kicking a 25 year long habbit stressed the baby.

I don't agree with smoking during pregnancy but there is an acception to every rule and if you haven't quit by a 20 weeks then I wouldn't quit at all for the duration of the pregnancy. Certainly I would agree with kicking the habbit afterward as it increases the childs risk of inhaling second-hand smoke from the mother, the environment and increases the chance of your baby being born with an addiction. Also remember that if you smoke, statistically your children are more likely to pick up the habbit.

As for the smoking being deliberate to have a lighter baby at birth - I'm pretty sure every mother wants their baby to be healthy at birth no matter what the birth weight is. To suggest that they are knowingly putting their infants at risk because they are uneducated and come from a lower class area is very telling in itself. I think you may be the uneducated one. That paints a very unfair portrait of young mothers from deprived areas and you're making the assumption that all of these young mothers are doing just this then you obviously don't know many of them.

KGLady

GuestUser2012 wrote: »

Folks,

As for the smoking being deliberate to have a lighter baby at birth - I'm pretty sure every mother wants their baby to be healthy at birth no matter what the birth weight is. To suggest that they are knowingly putting their infants at risk because they are uneducated and come from a lower class area is very telling in itself. I think you may be the uneducated one. That paints a very unfair portrait of young mothers from deprived areas and you're making the assumption that all of these young mothers are doing just this then you obviously don't know many of them.

The staying on cigarettes through pregnancy to avoid weight gain and have a smaller baby is something I've heard of several times before so its not just one poster's assumption, and to be fair to Seamus he did say "in some cases" and wasn't tarring an entire demographic as you accused.

I know of cases in my wider extended family and their social peers that pregnant women smoking is the absolute norm, and I've heard the discussions around not bothering to quit as you'll only put on weight, have a big baby and be wrecked 'down there' and sure your 'fella' won't stick around for that. And sure why would you wreck your tits and be like a cow when you can use formula and be back having a few cans as soon as the baby is born. That is the reality of some mothers - I grew up in an area where that was the norm and it still is. Feeling empathy for the plight of a baby in a smokers/alcoholic/drug users womb isn't a bad thing, or at least its something I won't apologise for.

GuestUser2012

fair enough I guess