Stop smoking help while pregnant?

Question

I am almost 4 months pregnant. I've cut down to about a half a pack of light cigarettes a day. I need help to quit all the way. Anyone have any advice???

Answer 1

Quitting smoking is a great opportunity to learn about ourselves.
Congratulate yourself on having the desire to stop - then you are over the worst, but still need to maintain your resolve. It's just so easy to start thinking that just one won't hurt, but it does. Just one achieves nothing except feeling the need for another. Whatever you do, don't have just one. Beware - alcohol will weaken your resolve.
Here's a few home-brewed tips that might be useful.
It's not just nicotine addiction - there are 50+ chemicals in cigarettes. Also the main problem is habit.
We have been used to having body sensations which we translate as 'my body needs something', which we have attempted to satisfy by having a cigarette.
When we try to stop smoking, we still get these 'my body needs something' sensations, and we still feel that we want a cigarette. We have to train our body to be more selective. When we feel we need something, we have to work out what it is that we actually need.
A glass of water is an excellent substitute if nothing else comes to mind, as it helps with the clearance of the toxic substances in our body. Another good substitute is a bag of salted peanuts, used in combination with the water.
Another thing to do is to find an activity which occupies the mind or body. Go swimming - nobody wants to smoke while they are swimming. Slowly, as our body adjusts and translates the 'want something' feelings into something other than cigarettes, then the feelings begin to go away. We know its not a cigarette that the body really needs, because as soon as we've had one we still have the feeling, and want another!
We will have a few bouts of feeling or even being short tempered. We must try to bite our lip, and control; ourselves. Recognise the short temper as being the removal of toxins which are trying to find a way out. They went in through the mouth, and they try to get out that way to. We must learn to keep our mouth closed, and force the toxins out the other way.

After we have stopped for a while we will begin to feel that just one wont to any harm.
All that leads to is a desire for just another one. We must guard very strongly against the desire to have just one.

Answer 2

Let me just be honest with you. I smoke a pack a day. When I was pregnant for my son, I vowed to quit, but let's just say I didn't succeed. I hated myself every time I smoked (I cut down but never quit), and I read all about the possible damages. Here's what I found out. The most important thing to do is load up on Vitamin C. Drink some orange juice when you smoke. It helps replinish some of the things that your body loses.

And FYI, the big issue about smoking is that it causes low birth weight. My baby was 9 pounds 4 oz. Go figure.

Answer 3

I comend you for looking out after your babies health. Quitting isn't easy. Try snacking on carrot sticks, or celery sticks. Try having hard candies around and when the urge strikes, grab some and make a mental picture of your baby. As time goes on, it will get easier. I think it's great that you have made such an effort this far. It shows that you really love your baby and want whats best for him/her. Oh yeah you could try some sugar free chewing gum too. Find something to keep your hands busy, like take up sewing or something. Because it's not just a nicotine habit, it's also a hand-to-mouth habit too. You might try joining a support group too, either online or where ever you live. Getting all the support you can really helps. Good luck & Congrats on the pregnancy!!!!

Answer 4

I've heard that if you go cold turkey while pregnant you can do more harm than good because your body is addicted to the nicotine. Your best bet is to just keep cutting it down. Try smoking one less cigarette each day for a week and then cut out another one. Soon enough you'll be quit.

Congrats on ur drive to quit and your pregnancy.

Answer 5

I work with Developmentally disable children and adults... and guess what?.... 24% of them were born mentally retarded all because their parents smoked. That is just 24% in THIS building! ALL because their mother smoked a cigarette. Cigarettes can cause your child to be a slow learner, and slow at developing. Even if they come out "normal" later on they may walk, talk, etc months slower than a child whose mother didnt smoke or drink. In school it may be harder for them to learn. I have never smoked a cigarette in my life and when I smell second hand smoke it kills me i feel like I cant even breathe, and I am a grown woman, so just imagine what it can do to a tiny baby! The first months of pregnancy are the most fragile times for your baby. Anyways, here is a tip that helped my mom stop smoking, its sounds crazy but it worked. Cut up some drinking straws into the size of cigarettes, put them in a empty cigarette pack, get a lighter with no fluid, when you feel you have to have a cigarette, pull out one of the straws, and pretend to smoke it! People think that smoking is something they HAVE to have, when in reality its all a mind thing, so if you make your mind belive the straws are a cigarette you will eventually get over it.... anyways try it and good luck

Answer 6

JUST STOP! I did it and so can you. Yes you will go through with drawl and yes it will be hard, but has to be done right now. No there is nothing they can prescribe you to help you stop while pregnant. You need will power to stop and have to want to do it. Think about your child's health, your putting your baby at risk right now. Please stop! Two lines on a pregnancy test was enough to put the cigs away for good with me. You are at a very high risk for miscarriage if you continue to smoke...........low birth weight, and a whole host of medical problems for your unborn child.

Answer 7

just picture blowing smoke in a new baby's face. Picture holding a cigarette to a baby's lips. Picture an underweight, sick, sad, baby. would you offer your baby a smoke after it's born? no. Why do it now. You have a passenger. EVERYTHING you ingest goes to the baby. The food you eat and the air you breath. Do you smoke in church? or anyplace where smoking isn't allowed? in the airport? in the hospital? no. You wait until you're out of that place to light up. You just have to wait until the baby's born. He/she has no choice on where they are right now. and where they are is in you. Will you hold your new baby in your arms and blow smoke in his/her face? No. That's what you're doing when you smoke while pregnant.
don't mean to sound harsh. I'm a smoker, too. better to be a total Bi*ch to everyone than smoke while pregnant. Think of a lifetime of going to the Dr. for lung related problems. And I mean a lifetime. the damage done to the baby will last long after he/she's grown and you're old and gray. Low birth weight is also more harmful than most new mothers think. Chew gum, eat fruit, drink water, yell at hubby. learn to knit, take a walk.... whatever you need to do. Good luck. and have a healthy baby.

Answer 8

Despite what other people have said on here, It will NOT make your baby handicap...It will not make your baby retarded..

I've smoked with all 3 of my pregnancies, And my 2 boys came out JUST FINE! I have one boy that was born weighing 9lbs 3.1oz, and the other weighed 8lbs 8oz.....Both were in picture perfect health!!!

My Dr. told me NOT to quit cold turkey..as it could have negative effects on me, which in turn, would give negative effects to the baby..You've cut back, which is awesome...Maybe if you gradually keep cutting back-You can eventually make it to no cigarettes a day??

I know it
It's a hard hard hard habit to break...And best of luck to you! :-)

Answer 9

my advice is: think about the baby that you are expecting, how you are harming him, poisoning his air...I think that's a good reason. And don't you come at me with all that "my friend smoke thru her pg and her baby is fine". Cigarettes causes lung cancer, high blood pressure and heart disease in an adult...it could be very harmful to your unborn baby. Sure some babies from smokers are born fine, but some other aren't...don't risk your baby's well being over a stupid habit...you can do it again after your baby is born.

Answer 10

Just think about your baby. What would you do if someone blew smoke in his face after he was born? You'd probably have a heart attack... You need to realize that this is poisoning him or her. My sister and my friend both smoked the whole time they were pregnant.. Both of their children get sick ALL the time, and my neice had allergies so bad it was to the point she was getting hives from tree bark. Please dont do this to your baby.