I'm pregnant and i smoke help????(Only for those who have smoked during pregnancy please)?

Question

I just found out about 2 weeks ago that I am pregnant.
I believe I am about a month. I think I am starting to show already but I think it’s the gas I have and the bloating. My stomach is sore as well. Is that normal?
I have been reading a lot of things on the
Internet, about smoking since I am a smoker. When I found out I was
Pregnant I cut down to 2 cigarettes a day. Compared to when I would
Smoke a pack a day. I am really trying to quit but it’s hard.
I read this morning on the internet that if you’re a smoker and you quit
In the first trimester there could be a chance of a miscarriage. Then I read
If you continue to smoke your baby could have a lot of problems once
It’s born. So here I am stressing over this because I don’t know what to do.
This is my first child and I don’t want to screw it up but I need some help here
I don’t want to be 5 months and still smoking nor do I want to risk anything.
So I need so

Answer 1

I've known people who have smoked their entire pregnancies and had healthy babies, but I've also known some who smoked and had babies with upper respiritory problems. My suggestion is to first, ask a doctor about it. My opinion is that you should continue to cut back slowly until you are no longer smoking at all. You've done GREAT so far, since you've gotten from a pack a day to 2 cigarettes a day in 2 weeks. Just keep up the good work.

Answer 2

Okay, smoking is bad for baby during pregnancy, true. But stopping cold turkey isn't a good idea either. When I found out I was pregnant I was smoking about a pack a day. I decreased that to 5 a day and then down to 1-2 a day. I did quit for about a month around month 6 but ended up being so stressed I smoked one cigarette in the morning and one after work, no more. My son was born perfectly healthy, 9lb 14oz! Don't continue to smoke like you do, I have a friend who did and her baby was VERY small. Smoking cuts on the blood supply to the baby, this is what makes a small baby in smokers, and it's not a good small. They are small because they didn't get the nutrients and blood flow they need.

Answer 3

You need to do whatever works for you..period end of discussion to hell with everyone else!

Quitting early on does not cause miscarriages (although it can be a factor for people who have had previous miscarriages - but its the stress they put themselves in over it)

Nor will your child come out looking like an alien cause you smoked...

Some recent surveys and research has revealed a link between smoking and lack of proper diet/nutrician which is actually believed to be the cause of the smaller sized babies smokers have not the cigarettes themselves (althought im not saying smokes are healthy by any means).

Let me explain further.. I use to smoke i did during 3 pregnancies for which i was a surrogate for my brother and his wife - my 2 nieces and my nephew are perfectly healthy


Smokers tend to not eat as well as they should, they turn to a cigarette instead of food when they are stressed, when they are anxious, when they need something but just don't know what...where as non smokers (while pregnant especially) tend to turn to food - when im anxious now i find myself eating even if i am not hungry its a reaction..

So for smokers they do not gain as much weight (so baby doesnt either) also smokers tend to eat less healthy than non smokers (coincidence i think)

Anyway if you can't quit outright - or are really worried DON"T the stress about it - stress - will be the real problem - just make sure you are eating healthy and getting well balanced diet and keep active and fit like anyone else

If anyone goes off on you - ignore them - there is no point is stressing about it - lots of women smoked during pregnancy and there kids are just fine...who is to say smoking is the only factor associated with the problems kids have had from parents who did smoke..maybe they were smoking the wacky tobacky too and never admited it, or were drinking, or god only knows what else...

Relax - stress is very bad for you and the baby (worse than smoking ever will be)

Good luck

Answer 4

Cutting down to 2 cigs a day is AMAZING! I was in the process of cutting back when I found out I was pregnant with my first, and I managed to stay to basically only 1 cig a day. I tried and tried to cut that last one out, but found that I could never go more than a week without that one cig. I don't know why, it was probably just a mental thing, but I felt like such a failure. What I forgot at that point was what a huge accomplishment cutting down from a pack a day to one a day was.

Celebrate that and don't get down to hard on yourself. I do think that you should quit if you can, you will be feel better and obviously be doing what is best for your baby, but don't get too down on yourself when you do have one.

From what I remember (and this was a few years ago) quitting within the first trimester is the best time to quit. Talk to your doctor, be honest, tell him about your progress and ask him or her for advice. They are not there to judge, they are there to help you have a successful pregnancy!

Lots of luck!

Answer 5

I too was a smoker when I found out I was pregnant, and it was very very hard to stop. You have done the right thing and are on the right track by cutting back like you have. Give yourself a pat on the back. I was not able to completely quit at once either, but by four weeks after I found out I was down to nothing. I gained 15 lbs in the first trimester because of quitting, but my doctors assure me I did the right thing.
I wouldn't worry about miscarriage if you quit. Those articles never tell you just how slight and rare their statistics are, and it was probably only based on one study, in comparrison to the hundreds that say that smoking while pregnant is worse for the baby than the effects of quitting are. Chances are that if something like quitting smoking is going to cause you to miscarriage, you probably don't have a good chance of carrying to term anyhow.
Quitting is the right thing to do, but most people don't understand how very hard it is unless they've been there themselves. It is possible to have a healthy baby and smoke all the way through your pregnancy, my friend did it. But that is rare, and just because the baby is healthy doesn't mean that it couldn't have been better. There is no way to tell how that baby would have turned out had its mother not smoked during the pregnancy, but I think everyone agrees that quitting smoking is giving your baby the best possible chances to be in outstanding health, rather than just being in "fine health" or worse. We all want our babies to have the very best, thats why we ultimately quit smoking.
And because of how terribly embarassing it would be to be caught smoking while pregnant. I think it would be embarassing. Thats just me.
But don't assume that you have done some terrible damage to your baby by smoking before you found out or by having trouble quitting entirely now. You are on the path to quitting, and that is the right thing to be doing. I applaud those who can quit the minute they get the positive test results, but some of us have stronger addictions than that. Whats important is that we make constant progress towards quitting as soon as we can.
It gets easier the longer you go without a smoke, but even now, probably 6 months since my last cigarette, I still get cravings from time to time. I still dream about smoking sometimes. But its way easier to ignore the cravings now. And I am very happy with how much money I save each month and with how my lungs seem to have cleared. Its so hard to breathe at 31 weeks, I can't imagine how I could do it if I still had smoker lungs!
Good luck and congrats, and if you ever need some quit smoking support, feel free to message me!

Answer 6

You have been scared by all these tales of how impossible it is to quit. In fact, it's not that hard. The fact that you already cut down so much means you can do it. People like to be dramatic and tell all kinds of horror stories. If I had believed all these stories about how pregnancy is uncomfortable and childbirth is painful and kids are impossible, I would have never decided to have a baby. Luckily I did not believe any of that and decided to see what I can do.

Imagine your developing baby in a closed sack, nowhere to go, struggling, while you blow smoke into her space. Would you like to be in that situation?

I'd say anyway you quit (gradually, cold turkey) must be better than continuing.

If I (a lifelong smoker) could quit within two days with both my pregnancies, so can you. You are stronger than this habit. Tell yourself you can always resume after the baby (I did too).

Answer 7

Im only throwing in a suggestion here, but it worked for me so if it helps you, Im glad!
I always thought that Id be able to quit like that as soon as I found I was pg ... when I did become pg, I realized just how hard it can be! Since my fiance and I are the only smokers out of both our families, I found it was easy to not have any cigarettes around them because of the guilt I felt! So I began spending as much time as possible around them - the time in between cigarettes was so long that after a while, I began thinking 'If I can go this long without cigarettes around family, why cant I do it alone?' ... From there I began to tell myself that when the baby was involved, why would I do anything by myself if I didnt want to do it in front of other people? It really helped me quit - none of the programs or quitting methods other than this helped me!
If you know any non smokers, than they help a lot!

Answer 8

I know it is wrong, and unhealthy for both you and the baby, but I smoked through all 3 of my pregnancies, and I went on to have 3 very healthy children, without any problems at all...I am now pregnant with my 4th child, 7 weeks along, and am smoking a pack a day, so I am trying very hard to cut back as much as I can, to finaly quit all together...but due to large amount of stess in my life I am finding it hard to achieve my goal...there are always risks, if you smoke or not...do your best...thats all anyone can ask.

Answer 9

I personally havent been pregnant. But both my sisters have been (one has 3 kids, the other has 2) and both of them are heavy smokers. They both cut back dramaticly, but neither completely stoped. They would have maybe 1 in the whole day. When they needed it they would go out and take to puffs and burn it out. Just off the same ciggerate. That way when it started tasting bad they wouldnt want it anymore. lol. Needless to say...my sisters babies were all above normal weight and healthy.
Probably is best to quit, but give it time. Dont stop cold turkey, that is when your body starts to completely go out of control. Probably why women misscarriage from it.

Answer 10

I'll be honest with you, yes smoking can obviously harm a baby but it may not. Anything foreign like that going into the body while you're pregnant can harm the baby...even caffeine BUT my mom smoked the entire time she was pregnant with me. She had a little less than a pack a day and I turned out fine. I think a lot of depends on how "strong" your immune system is for yourself and your baby.