pregnant smokers

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Replies

  • heidimelone
    heidimelone Posts: 16 Member
    Also....there is absolutely no link between smoking and deafness....
  • 2012asv
    2012asv Posts: 702 Member
    Her body. Her baby. Her business.

    ^Unfortunately this. Maybe something is wrong and she doesn't know how else to handle her stress? I would probably go out there and just start a friendly chat with her to see if talking might help?
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    There are some doctors that recommend heavy smokers that are pregnant NOT quit, especially if it is a high-risk pregnancy. The effects of nicotine withdrawal could be too much for the fetus to handle and she could lose the baby.

    Just something to think about.

    I smoked with both of my kids. My doctor did not want me to quit for this reason. He did ask me to limit it to 5 cigarrettes a day... which I complied. Neither of my kids suffered any health problems at birth. Both were a normal weight with fully developed lungs.
  • holly1283
    holly1283 Posts: 741 Member
    You could just say to her I'm sure your doctor had told you about the effects of smoking on her unborn child. You also are not to smoke in this area. Who's more important you or your child and my lungs? Then you need to walk away and not get pulled into an argument and keep on walking. If she talks back just remind her it is the rule for this area.
  • mermx
    mermx Posts: 976
    Her body. Her baby. Her business.

    I don't usually comment on forums but I just saw your replies...I have a friend (loosely speaking) that smoked during her last two pregnancies. Bother children are deaf as a result. Yes it was her business to quit but how do you think she now feels knowing that her smoking took away her child's hearing?

    Just saying.



    Sounds like her children should be taken away from her since she did it TWICE. once is bad enough.. but to harm your first child and then do it again. I swear to god some people should be sterilized.

    Some people have 1/2/3 or more abortions for whatever reason and then they decide to have another baby,! You cannot say take the child away becuase they made mistakes in the past?

    None of us are perfect and you would not be here if you were perfect??

    You cannot make people live to your ideals and you cannot go around taking children away because the parents smoked and the children had problems, as we don`t know that the smoking or anything else caused it?

    And for information I am against abortion, would never, ever consider it (for me anyways) I used to smoke and threw my cigs away as soon as I was pregnant (and I don`t think it is a good idea to smoke when pregnant) but just giving both sides of things.
  • SuperSexyDork
    SuperSexyDork Posts: 1,669 Member
    There are some doctors that recommend heavy smokers that are pregnant NOT quit, especially if it is a high-risk pregnancy. The effects of nicotine withdrawal could be too much for the fetus to handle and she could lose the baby.

    Just something to think about.

    Here's a perfect personal example!

    My younger (under 20) sister's doctor told her not to attempt to quit smoking. Her getting pregnant was an absolute fluke as the doctors had told her that it would be nearly impossible for her to ever get pregnant. She also has a lot of health issues. With all of her issues, her doctor doesn't want to add any more stress to her body.

    She has cut back and plans on discussing quitting gradually with her doctor because she feels this might be her only chance to be a mother and wants the best for her child but I don't think you have any clue about this woman's situation so you shouldn't be judging.
  • kattbyrd67
    kattbyrd67 Posts: 39 Member
    I work in a tobacco-free facility, and we are encouraged to approach people who are using tobacco products and ask them to stop...even if they are outside.
  • Shannon2714
    Shannon2714 Posts: 843 Member
    To clarify, it is clearly posted on the doors of our building ( Medical Plaza ) that this is a non smoking facility.

    For this reason alone, I'd say something. But, in reality, there isn't anything you can do. It's sad, but true.
  • redhousecat
    redhousecat Posts: 584 Member
    I dunno.
    I'm not a fan of the "not in my backyard" approach. In my opinion, I feel that is what is wrong with society today. Too many people minded their own business.

    flame away.

    Being overweight is harmful to your health. Should we "flame away" and yell out the window "HEY FATTY" at all the overweight people?

    Where is this invisible line we're drawing??

    good gawd. Just stop and think a minute. one does not have to be a sh1tbag about it....geeezzz. Don't be so defensive.
    Also, in forum speak, flaming is a result of brash and disagreed comments towards the despised comment.
    And, since you missed it, it was strictly my opinion.
  • this is a non smoking facility and that means the parking lot too.

    Unfortunately, the laws usually state that it only means smokers have to be 50' from a building entrance which does not include the parking lot.

    Not in Medical Facilities. When I worked in a hospital people couldn't smoke anywhere on the premises. They had to go across the street. I'm pretty sure that is the norm nowadays.

    Anyway, you could say you're doing this for the protection of other visitors, but getting her to stop once isn't going to make much difference. Very sad situation. That poor little unborn child.
  • LiftBigtoGetFit
    LiftBigtoGetFit Posts: 3,399 Member
    according to some, it's not even a baby until after it is born...........:devil:
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,728 Member
    Her body. Her baby. Her business.

    I don't usually comment on forums but I just saw your replies...I have a friend (loosely speaking) that smoked during her last two pregnancies. Bother children are deaf as a result. Yes it was her business to quit but how do you think she now feels knowing that her smoking took away her child's hearing?

    Just saying.

    Sounds like her children should be taken away from her since she did it TWICE. once is bad enough.. but to harm your first child and then do it again. I swear to god some people should be sterilized.

    Ridiculous. And did someone directly link the smoking with the deafness. Although, smoking has been loosely linked with some hearing problems, it is highly unlikely that the woman had two kids born deaf only because of smoking.
  • _Elemenopee_
    _Elemenopee_ Posts: 2,665 Member
    She knows what she's doing. It's her choice.

    "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." ~ Voltaire
  • Blacklance36
    Blacklance36 Posts: 755 Member
    Smoking while pregnant.....a big FAIL as a Mother. There are seldom any excuses,unless a doctor has told you expressly to keep going and that would be a very rare case indeed.

    A very selfish self serving thing to do....makes me mad, and I think I would say something. Its not her right to damage her yet to be born child as some here may think.
  • freckledrats
    freckledrats Posts: 251 Member
    People are generally free to make their own bad choices. You can't wrestle her and take away her smokes. For one, that's assault, and for two, that only stops her while you're sitting on her.

    People are also generally free to parent however they choose, even poorly. In extreme cases, they stop getting to parent anymore, but smoking while pregnant or with a small child isn't considered one of those extreme events. Maybe someday it will, maybe someday it won't, but either way, it's not now and that means you don't get a say in where and when this lady smokes. (Also, I agree that it might be worthwhile to wonder if she's not just fat in a pregnant-looking way.)

    Education is the best weapon. My mother chain smoked during her pregnancy with me. She chain smoked the entire time I lived with her after that, too. I was pretty lucky. No asthma, no lung problems in general, just premature by a few weeks.

    That said, if you're a mom and you smoke a lot around your kids, I have some education for you. It may not have affected my health, personally, but I was made fun of ALL during school for smelling like smoke all the time. I got in trouble with teachers for being suspected of smoking on campus. (I've been a non-smoker my entire life. Got enough nicotine in the womb, thanks.) I smelled it everywhere I went, I had trouble sleeping because it was all over my pillows and blankets. Couldn't sleep with the covers over my head because the smell was so bad I could hardly breathe. Couldn't breathe in the living room when both chimneys (parents) were going. There would be a thick white visible cloud in the room. And they chided me for being "dramatic" about it. No! Not dramatic! Suffering! :(

    I couldn't escape it til I was old enough to move out.

    My dad died at 63 from smoking-related health problems. That sucked to deal with, too.

    It's not all about possibly making your baby come out deaf or asthmatic or giving them lung cancer by 40. There are a ton of other things people don't think about when it comes to smoking around your children.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    Her body. Her baby. Her business.
    How pissed off would you be if you found your mother was a smoker and you ended up with lung problems? Very. Effing. Pissed.

    My mother smoked when she was pregnant with me (in 1968), and I have had allergies and asthma my entire life. Many times she was unable to take me to the ER in the middle of the night during an asthma attack because my father worked 3rd shift and they only had 1 car.

    She carries enormous guilt because of it, but back then there wasn't the knowledge or stigma associated with smoking, especially when pregnant.

    That said, I still probably wouldn't say anything to the girl unless I knew her well enough to discuss medical topics with her.

    I just want to say... (and we are on the same side of this issue) you have to be genetically predisposed to both asthma and allergies. Maybe her smoking while she was pregnant aggravated that issue, but it is more likely than not that it was her continued smoking after you were born that caused the most issues. Fetuses aren't actually exposed to smoke in the womb. They are exposed to the nicotine which might mean the baby could be born with an addiction to it, but nicotine, itself, doesn't have a direct effect on asthma or allergies.
  • Iceman1800
    Iceman1800 Posts: 476
    Her body. Her baby. Her business.

    I don't usually comment on forums but I just saw your replies...I have a friend (loosely speaking) that smoked during her last two pregnancies. Bother children are deaf as a result. Yes it was her business to quit but how do you think she now feels knowing that her smoking took away her child's hearing?

    Just saying.
    bullsh*t. There is no way to prove smoking caused that. It's just a convenient excuse.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
    Being overweight is harmful to your health. Should we "flame away" and yell out the window "HEY FATTY" at all the overweight people?

    Where is this invisible line we're drawing??

    This

    You wouldn't scream at a pregnant woman for eating unhealthy food, using bug spray, or doing countless other things other people do in their daily lives that, given enough frequency, endangers their health. It sucks that she's chain smoking through pregnancy. But her pregnancy isn't your business.

    My mom did some light drinking and smoking when she was pregnant with each of her three children. It doesn't doom your fetus to birth defects. It's a piss-poor decision, but it's hers.
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
    I dunno.
    I'm not a fan of the "not in my backyard" approach. In my opinion, I feel that is what is wrong with society today. Too many people minded their own business.

    flame away.

    Being overweight is harmful to your health. Should we "flame away" and yell out the window "HEY FATTY" at all the overweight people?

    Where is this invisible line we're drawing??

    good gawd. Just stop and think a minute. one does not have to be a sh1tbag about it....geeezzz. Don't be so defensive.
    Also, in forum speak, flaming is a result of brash and disagreed comments towards the despised comment.


    *LOL* I thought it was an interesting debate, not an immediate digression to sh*tbag. I see I was wrong. We wouldn't have an interesting debate at all.
  • kiminikimkim
    kiminikimkim Posts: 746 Member
    To this day, I still resent my mother for smoking when she was pregnant with me and continued smoking till I was 9 years old. My childhood was plagued with breathing problems.

    It created a lifelong rift between us.
  • Most Medical facilities have a "No smoking campus" which does include the parking lot. In the event that she is in fact just fat, or it is necessary for her and the baby's health to smoke, she will find else where to do it. Preferably not around people who care. I am a smoker, I work in a hospital and when I want to smoke, I have to drive a block down the road. Yea, it sucks, but most days I don't, so all in all it's probably good for me and better for her, if you say something rather than security.
  • 3Daughtersin2015
    3Daughtersin2015 Posts: 81 Member
    I really wish you had to get a license to have children, and that the stupid people wouldn't reproduce. My heart breaks for the children who have parents that don't give a crap.
  • rob1976
    rob1976 Posts: 1,328 Member
    Her body. Her baby. Her business.

    Really? What say does the baby get?
    None. It's not a baby until it's born.
  • liss125
    liss125 Posts: 77
    I dunno.
    I'm not a fan of the "not in my backyard" approach. In my opinion, I feel that is what is wrong with society today. Too many people minded their own business.

    flame away.

    Being overweight is harmful to your health. Should we "flame away" and yell out the window "HEY FATTY" at all the overweight people?

    Where is this invisible line we're drawing??

    I think that smoking and being overweight are different things. An overweight person isn't a public health issue. Smoking is. Smoking not only affects the smoker, but those around them (especially a gestating infant.) I, personally, wouldn't condone name-calling in either case :) Though it is hard for me not to speak up when someone is blatantly stacking the odds against their unborn baby.
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
    Only trashy people smoke. It didn't used to be that way. Now the only ones left doing it are the loud-mouthed, bleached-blonde, bowling, bus driving bimbos with a raspy voice and leather skin that hang out in bars.

    They also stink, pollute my air, throw their trash on the ground and out the windows, raise our medical costs, ruin cars, ruin their health, other's health, start fires, etc.

    Yeah, I'm bitter and I stereotype today's defensive smokers. My father smoked and he died from it so it's a sensitive subject for me.

    If you smoke, get help and stop! People get off meth, you can get off your filthy cigarettes.

    That is all.

    Wow. Just. Wow.
  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    Her body. Her baby. Her business.
    How pissed off would you be if you found your mother was a smoker and you ended up with lung problems? Very. Effing. Pissed.

    My mother smoked when she was pregnant with me (in 1968), and I have had allergies and asthma my entire life. Many times she was unable to take me to the ER in the middle of the night during an asthma attack because my father worked 3rd shift and they only had 1 car.

    She carries enormous guilt because of it, but back then there wasn't the knowledge or stigma associated with smoking, especially when pregnant.

    That said, I still probably wouldn't say anything to the girl unless I knew her well enough to discuss medical topics with her.

    I just want to say... (and we are on the same side of this issue) you have to be genetically predisposed to both asthma and allergies. Maybe her smoking while she was pregnant aggravated that issue, but it is more likely than not that it was her continued smoking after you were born that caused the most issues. Fetuses aren't actually exposed to smoke in the womb. They are exposed to the nicotine which might mean the baby could be born with an addiction to it, but nicotine, itself, doesn't have a direct effect on asthma or allergies.

    You make a good point, and both she and my father continued to smoke until I was around 14 or 15. Thanks for your post.
  • 3Daughtersin2015
    3Daughtersin2015 Posts: 81 Member
    Only trashy people smoke. It didn't used to be that way. Now the only ones left doing it are the loud-mouthed, bleached-blonde, bowling, bus driving bimbos with a raspy voice and leather skin that hang out in bars.

    They also stink, pollute my air, throw their trash on the ground and out the windows, raise our medical costs, ruin cars, ruin their health, other's health, start fires, etc.

    Yeah, I'm bitter and I stereotype today's defensive smokers. My father smoked and he died from it so it's a sensitive subject for me.

    If you smoke, get help and stop! People get off meth, you can get off your filthy cigarettes.

    That is all.

    I'm sorry for your loss. I feel the same way about people. It is so not sexy. I guess you can consider it the only socially acceptable form of suicide.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    I dunno.
    I'm not a fan of the "not in my backyard" approach. In my opinion, I feel that is what is wrong with society today. Too many people minded their own business.

    flame away.

    Being overweight is harmful to your health. Should we "flame away" and yell out the window "HEY FATTY" at all the overweight people?

    Where is this invisible line we're drawing??

    I think that smoking and being overweight are different things. An overweight person isn't a public health issue. Smoking is. Smoking not only affects the smoker, but those around them (especially a gestating infant.) I, personally, wouldn't condone name-calling in either case :) Though it is hard for me not to speak up when someone is blatantly stacking the odds against their unborn baby.

    Overweight people absolutely are a public health issue in countries that have public healthcare... Canada, UK... etc.
  • dandaninc
    dandaninc Posts: 392
    I smoked for close to 13 years straight.

    My mom was smoking in the hospital when she had me.

    I recently quit last November.

    If I see someone smoking in a non-smoking area I not only get pissed but I tell them. LOUDLY.

    I don't care who they are or if they are pregnant or not.

    I don't care if she is giving herself cancer.

    I care if she is going to give me or my family cancer.

    NO ONE MESSES WITH MY FAMILY

    :grumble:
  • TrinaJ11
    TrinaJ11 Posts: 159 Member
    As bad as it sounds I would say it's none of your business.

    The only reason you want to say something about the premises being non-smoking is because she's pregnant. Whereas if there was a different person that was not pregnant outside smoking you wouldn't have taken the time to post here and you would not have said anything to the person.