My sister and DH both just did it cold turkey they jsut couldn't deal with  all the other stuff. They jsut made the decision to NOT do it agian and stuck to it no matter what.

Also just to help you along.

You are entering the period of your pregnancy whereby your child's lungs are becoming strong and he/she needs all the right conditions he/she can get to insure that his/her lungs are fully developed.  You do realise if a hospital knows a child is to be born premature before 36/7 weeks they will give the mother steroids so the lungs develop fully.  You are at an extremely important phase as far as your child's respiratory future is concerned.  Smoking at this moment risks a life time of respiratory problems for your child. IT RISKS a life time of worry, heart ache, hospital costs, excess interruptions to work, family life and costs FOR YOU.

A short term annoying, painful experience at the moment whilst you have withdrawals from cigarettes may save you from a lot more painful, annoying upsetting experience in the future.

How about this.  Think about the harm smoking while pregnant is doing to your baby. 

If you smoke when you are pregnant the combination of carbon monoxide and nicotine in cigarettes makes it harder for your baby to get the oxygen and nourishment it needs. Smoking places stress on the baby’s heart and affects the development of its lungs.

Pregnant smokers have a greater risk of miscarriage, may have a difficult birth and risk having a low weight baby, which will be more vulnerable to infection and other health problems. The baby of a smoker is more likely to die at or shortly after birth.

If you quit before becoming pregnant or in the first few months, your baby’s birthweight will be the same as if you had been a non-smoker. Also, you reduce the risk of premature birth and other pregnancy complications.

The umbilical cord is your baby’s lifeline. Blood flow through this cord provides your baby with oxygen and the food it needs to grow. Every puff you take on a cigarette has an immediate effect on your baby. Carbon monoxide replaces some of the oxygen in your blood, reducing the amount of oxygen received by your baby through the umbilical cord.

The nicotine in cigarettes increases your heart rate and your baby’s heart rate. It also causes your blood vessels to narrow, reducing the flow of blood through the umbilical cord. This makes it harder for your baby to get the oxygen and nourishment it needs.

To prepare for breathing after birth, your unborn baby will be practising by exercising some of its chest muscles. Nicotine reduces these breathing movements.

Cigarette smoke also contains many other harmful poisons, which pass through your lungs and into your bloodstream, which your baby shares.

Smoking during pregnancy by a mother is a major cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS or ‘cot death’). It also has the following effects:

• Increases the risk of miscarriage
• Increases the risk of complications during the birth
• Increases the likelihood of having a low-weight baby who is more vulnerable to infection and other health problems
• Increases the chances of the baby dying at or shortly after birth.

There is no evidence to support the claim that quitting cold turkey could harm the foetus. On the contrary, every cigarette delivers many chemical agents that put the baby under stress. In particular, carbon monoxide displaces oxygen from red blood cells and makes it harder for the blood cells to release oxygen. This badly affects the transfer of oxygen from the mother’s blood to the baby’s blood across the placenta.

Tobacco smoke has very high levels of oxidizing chemicals which upset important processes in the umbilical cord, constricting it. Their actions also impair the production of the membrane around the baby.

Smokers have more viscous (thicker and stickier) blood than non-smokers, which is a risk factor for stroke in the newborn as well as for blood clots (thrombosis) in the placenta. When the mother quits smoking, the level of carbon monoxide drops quickly and is much lower after only a day, and her blood improves over the next several weeks.

Smoking results in retarded growth of the foetus and subsequently low birth weight. Low birth weight may have a lasting effect of the growth and development of the child. It is associated with an increased risk for early puberty, and in adulthood an increased risk for heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Women who quit early in their pregnancy have babies with birth weights similar to non-smokers.

Women who quit smoking during pregnancy reduce the risk reduce the risk of preterm membrane rupture, preterm delivery and low birth weight.

In general, quitting without using quitting aids (nicotine replacement therapy or bupropion (Zyban) is preferred. This means first options are quitting suddenly or cutting down over one to two weeks and then quitting.

At the moment, there is nothing to recommend one method over the other, although quitting suddenly is more popular. Withdrawal symptoms might cause some emotional stress to the mother, which for most people is worse in the first week, but they decrease over time and usually do not last more than a few weeks. However, continued smoking puts the bodies of both mother and child under physical stress. All the evidence points to quitting smoking being one of the most important ways to improve pregnancy outcomes.

The above exerpt is from here

Good luck.

Dannii xxo

I'm taking the long way round.  I've cut down the strength of the ciggarettes and am now working on cutting down on the number I smoke.

Having support behind you is going to help too.  My partner and I are going to try one of these new programs that helps you through a gradual process of quitting.

We could always set up our own quit support group here on minti and work together to find a plan that works for preggy ladies.  I hate smoking, just like the 5 mins I get outside of the house kid free!

I'm not trying to guilt trip you. The reason I say this is a friend's daughter once said to him, "dad, I don't want you to die" & that was enough to make him stop. So if you tell yourself these things it might help.

There's a new tablet that apparently is very good to help you give up but I have no idea about taking it while breast feeding. The best thing is to ask your doctor about the best method to use. Or even ask the chemist - they would know. I, too, have heard that accupuncture can help - now you can get laser therapy, which I think is like having accupuncture only with lasers instead of needles.

I used to smoke so I do understand how hard it is to stop. I was lucky in the way that, when I first fell pregnant, it made me not want to smoke. I didn't feel sick or anything from smoking, I just didn't want to smoke, so I stopped. It takes a lot of will power & the fact that you want to stop is the first step.

If you try to stop, & you cannot, don't ever think yourelf a failure & therefore not try again. They say that each time you try to give up, the easier it gets. Best of luck!

Good Luck!!!

Amanda xxxx

Probably best ask your doctor. Though in my opinion, nicotine will get into your milk with patches, it'll also get in if you don't give up. At least the patches won't hurt the little one's lungs, or yours for that matter. However the amount of nicotine that passes into milk from smoking is almost insignificant, I don't know about with the patches.

My mum smoked very heavily and had no qualms about holding me in one arm and having a smoke in the other, and I turned out... ok, maybe it's better if you give up. pmsl  Some kids are seriously damaged by smoking, some aren't. Don't give up trying to give up, but don't stress about it or the stress will make you want to do it more.