Misbehaving Mums-to-be: Smoking in pregnancy and how to give up.
I am a Specialist Midwife for smoking in pregnancy and was lucky enough to be involved in the BBC Three series Misbehaving Mums to be, part of the Bringing Up Britain season. The season is a collection of factual programmes looking at the experiences and difficulties facing young parents in Britain today. And as anyone with children knows, becoming a parent can be one of the most stressful things you'll ever go through, but for the youngest parents, who may not have strong support structures or emotional and financial security, the experience can be even more difficult.
Misbehaving Mums to Be follows a group of midwives, like myself, as we try and help pregnant women - who are drinking alcohol, smoking and over eating – and encourage them to get back into shape before they give birth.
During the series I worked with a group of mums-to-be using cutting-edge intervention that is part of my role when helping mums-to-be to stop smoking. It is important that I see the hardest to reach women and get across the key facts and risks of smoking in pregnancy. They need to understand the harm they are causing their unborn baby. The consequences of continuing to smoke can be catastrophic. Women often feel very emotional and guilty when they learn of the damage they are doing to their unborn child. However, for some, facing the facts doesn't make it any easier to give up and the right help and support is very important.
I tried to demonstrate this during the series. As an outsider, it would be easy to judge some of the mums on the show but the important thing to remember is that they are the ones seeking help. And that’s the crucial first step in making a change.
I see women like the ones on the series on a daily basis and a lot of them are in unimaginable situations. They may have mental health problems, be lone parents or are trying to cope with highly stressful situations and this coupled with the fact that pregnancy itself can be a difficult time, means it is actually harder for them to give up than any other time in their life.
But whatever your situation - don't despair! If you are pregnant, here are my top tips for giving up smoking:
Although it’s always best to stop smoking as soon as you find out you are pregnant, stopping at anytime will benefit the baby so it is never too late. If you stop it will also help the baby during labour and birth and reduce the risk of an instrumental delivery or caesarian section.
Get some help - your chances of giving up are much, much higher if you do than if you try to do it by willpower alone
Contact your local NHS stop smoking service https://smokefree.nhs.uk/%28mention that you are pregnant as soon as you speak to them - they may have a specialist service like ours)
They will give you both pharmacological help (nicotine replacement therapy in the form of patches, inhalators, gum or lozenges), and help to change your behaviour - they'll look at identifying what are going to be the barriers to you giving up and help you build coping strategies to help overcome those barriers.
If it's your partner/sister/friend who's giving up, there are lots of things you can do to help too: ask them every day how they're doing, are they having problems you can help with? Maybe you could give them incentives like plan to take them out for dinner or to do something nice if they last out another week. Most importantly, don't smoke around people who are trying to give up.
Lastly, just take one day at a time - be prepared for those trigger situations and think about what you will do if you do crack and have a cigarette.
Being involved with the series was an amazing experience. I think anyone who sees it will agree the resolve shown by the women featured was really inspirational and illustrates how sometimes hope can triumph in the most difficult circumstances.
Good luck if you're giving up and I hope you enjoy the programme
Misbehaving Mums To be starts on Thursday 14th April at 9pm. For more information on the Bringing Up Britain season click here bbc.co.uk/bbcthree
Comment number 1.
At 06:56 23rd Apr 2011, Mtwain2011 wrote:Shocking! How shocking was it to know that these pregnant mums are just not able to withhold their smoking, drinking and eating habits until they had delivered; and that for the sake of their babies - a child that is yet to see this world. Ridiculous, to say the least.
As pointed out in the passage above, “young and pregnant mums seem to have the toughest time”. What on Earth could be more pleasing than having your first baby delivered? The smile of a baby should take away the hardships in one's life like being a single parent, health problems and others as mentioned in the passage above. Also strange is the fact that cheap incentives like a 'night-out for a dinner' could encourage a mother to withhold her habits, more than the thought of having a healthy child in a few month's time.
Having said that, three cheers to Lisa for having brought out such wonderful tips for misbehaving mums. Facts like “its never too late to quit smoking / drinking” and “avoid smoking in front of people who are trying to quit the habit” are simply superb. The NHS on its part can also take aggressive actions in this aspect. [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
Let us all pray that the efforts taken by people like Lisa do not go in vain and help these mums to get back into shape before they give birth.
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Comment number 2.
At 06:07 26th Apr 2011, Hilda wrote:I think Mtwain2011 is ignoring the fact that any addiction can be such a challenge to overcome, I am not challenging his/her opinion because in a ‘perfect man’s world’ we all expect a pregnant mother to think of her child first, but to the reality of these girls' lives they are can't even thinking about themselves, what Mtwain2011 may call "cheap incentives (like a night-out for a dinner)" is actually a symbol of moral support, baby steps to smoke free life/or alcohol free, offering that extra bit of support, it’s never too late to stop the habit and the experience always creates a better person in them, like it has been mentioned on the programme some of these ladies have mental health problems the conviction to stop is always there but sometimes they need that extra push and guidance and a reminder of how important this time could be for both them and their baby’s life, I have worked with young mothers and I must say it is never black and white as it may seem(logic and facts are never good enough). That is where we all owe our gratitude to people like NHS,and also continue reminding families of their importance in recovering process of their loved ones.
Is a nationwide worry, in both health and social welfare, we can mother or father a child but parenthood demands much more sacrifices it doesn’t end with pregnancy but many more years of responsibilities, the only way to do it is to be responsible first(which to many is a challenge).
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