Quitting Smoking
For Yourself and Your Baby
You’ve just learned you’re pregnant, and you’re thrilled beyond words! What’s the first thing you do? Call your husband? Tell your mother? Go to the library to check out books on pregnancy and childbirth?
Sadly, for too many women, the answer may be – light up a cigarette. In the state of Missouri, recent statistics show 17.6 percent of women admit smoking during pregnancy. That is about one of every six pregnant women. The percentage is nearly double among women on Medicaid, 30.6 percent.
Risks … for All
It’s been well-known for decades that smoking is harmful, increasing the likelihood of cancers, heart disease, stroke and more for smokers. But we also know tobacco smoke is harmful to unborn babies. It exposes them to chemicals like nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar.
Research has shown that babies born to women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to be born:
- With birth defects such as cleft lip or cleft palate
- Prematurely
- At low birthweight
- Underweight for the number of weeks of pregnancy
If you don’t smoke, you may have friends who do. Breathing in tobacco smoke from others also harms your baby. Secondhand smoke can cause a baby to be born at low birthweight. For newborns, it also increases the risk of death from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), respiratory diseases, or slow lung growth.
Thirdhand Smoke
As if secondhand smoke were not enough of a problem, thirdhand smoke can make life even worse for unborn babies and infants. Thirdhand smoke is made of the toxic gases and particles left behind even when the cigarettes or cigars are extinguished. Contaminants like lead, arsenic, and carbon monoxide embed themselves in hair, clothes, furniture and carpets. Babies can inhale those chemicals too, leading to asthma and other breathing disorders, learning disabilities, and cancers. You can protect your baby from thirdhand smoke by asking family and friends to smoke outside rather than in your home or car.
Help is Available
In 2011, the situation in the St. Louis area is improving for pregnant women who want to quit smoking and those who want to avoid the tobacco smoke of others. In St. Louis City and St. Louis County, most public places must be smokefree. That includes restaurants, shopping malls, theaters, government buildings, stores and more. In the Metro East, smoking has been prohibited in public buildings for several years. Across Missouri, voters in cities and counties are deciding in favor of smokefree laws. So it is becoming easier to avoid secondhand smoke.
If you’re a smoker who wants to quit, many health insurers and employers offer smoking cessation programs free of charge. Some are increasing your premium costs if you continue to smoke. For pregnant women on Medicaid, help became available in late 2010. Medicaid now pays for smoking cessation counseling and products prescribed by health professionals, such as nicotine gum.
You can also get advice –pregnant or not – from the Missouri Department of Health. It operates a toll-free phone for people who want to quit smoking. Each caller will be assigned to a “quit coach” to help her through the process of giving up smoking.
Tips to Quit Smoking
- Write down your reasons for quitting. Look at the list when you are tempted to smoke.
- Choose a "quit day." On that day, throw away all your cigarettes or cigars, lighters and ashtrays.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Keep your hands busy using a small stress ball or doing some needlework.
- Keep yourself occupied, too. Try going for a walk or doing chores to keep your mind off of cravings.
- Snack on some raw veggies or chew some sugarless gum to ease the need to have something in your mouth.
- Stay away from places, activities or people that make you feel like smoking.
- Ask your partner or a friend to help you quit. Call that person when you feel like smoking.
- Ask your health care provider about quitting aids such as patches, gum, nasal spray and medications.
- If you’re pregnant, don't start using these without your health care provider's okay.
- Don't get discouraged if you don't quit completely right away. Keep trying. If you can't quit, cut back as much as you can.
- Ask your employer to see what services are offered or covered by insurance.