mums, do you smoke cigarettes?

Question

Do you smoke or not?
What are your policies about people (yourself included if applicable) smoking around your baby.

E.g. will you not smoke in an enclosed space with your baby, not any where near them, not let any one who has been smoking hold your baby, etc

Just curious :)

Answer 1

Sigh, yes I do. Trying to quit though!



My policies are:



My kids do not go in a car or vehicle that is smoked in. Period, even if they 'aired' it out, HA! Takes 16 hours to get it all out.



Outside, the smoking person must be at LEAST 10-15 feet away from the kids. And down wind, if that applies.



For goodness sakes, if someone was to smoke holding my baby, I would probably get an assault charge.





ETA:



Megyvette, here in BC Canada, the new smoking laws state that there is no smoking in any public place at all, and no smoking within 10 feet of any door, window or air vent. It is easily the best law we have. I am not sure of the fine, but I know there is one.

Answer 2

No, I don't smoke. Not only is it gross and unhealthy, I have asthma and cigarette smoke tends to aggravate it.



We're pretty lucky that we only have... 4?... people that we see often who smoke. They all excuse themselves to smoke outside, so I don't have to worry about people smoking in an enclosed space around him. I would not allow it, though, if we were in that situation. I would ask the person to leave the room, or I would take my son and leave the room. I also feel strongly about the effects of second hand smoke, so I would also make sure that anyone who is smoking stays away from my baby while smoking, even if we are outside. When he was really little, I would have not let anyone hold him who had been smoking, or who smelled like smoke, but now that he is a toddler I don't mind too much.

Answer 3

I applaud all of those honest enough to admit that they smoke. I am currently pregnant, actually was due Dec. 1st, and yes, I am a moderate smoker. While I do not advocate smoking...duh...I do not buy into the fanatical scare tactics employed to make people panic and convince them that their child will be born way under weight, half retarded or still born from smoking. If that were the case, most of us healthy folks who were born of parents in the 70s (when many many mothers smoked as there was thought to be no adverse effects) would be so. I am a research scientist by profession and when I wonder about something, I plough into the scientific journals and read the actual basis for a belief. And honestly, the research for proven adverse effects from smoking (MODERATELY) while pregnant and around newborns is scant and hardly proven. With this being said, however, I have no intention of EVER smoking in a car or in any confined space around my baby. I never have and never will. I also agree with some of the other posters...my parents smoke as do many of my friends. I will never be as fanatical as to deprive my child of their grandparents due to smoking. I will ask they do not smoke around the baby but if it occurs occassionally...so be it.

Answer 4

I do not smoke and absolutely can not stand smoke. Growing up I had chronic asthma and my brother had chronic allergies. My mom smoked but she did not smoke in the house or vehicle around either of us. When my daughter was born 2 1/2 years ago I did not allow her to be smoked around and I am 6 weeks from my due date with my second one and the same will apply for him because my daughter still is not around smoke. Luckily my mom has quit smoking and my grandpa and my aunt are the only other two that smoke that we are around all the time and they both smoke outside.

Answer 5

No one is to smoke around my baby. The only time that this happens is at my in-laws. The step-mom smokes in the house and she lets her friends smoke in the house also. She will smoke in the other room and make her friends smoke in the other room when I have my son there but it is still a problem with me...but I don't want to keep my son from them because it is the only grandparents he has.



I do not smoke and if I did I would have quit when I got pregnant with my son because I would not want him to have to grow up around smoking parents. My hubby smoked for a few years and just quit for my son. He is 2 1/2 months old so I am so proud of my hubby for doing this asap.





When my hubby was smoking he would NOT smoke in the house EVER or in the car EVER and if we were all outside and he was smoking, he would walk further away from us.

Answer 6

Unfortunately I smoke... smoked a pack a day for quite a few years. Pretty much quit completely when i found out I was pregnant. Then the stress of everything after wards made me start up again but only a couple a day. I have never smoked around my daughter or even brought her to someones house who does smoke. When i do have to have one I always sanitize my hands immediately after smoking in and change my clothing. just because I am an idiot and smoke does not mean that my daughter had to be subjected ot it. I am currently in the process of quitting... which is why I have been spending so much time on here :) Keeps me occupied when shes sleeping,



Oh yeah and i do BF, but i have never smoked a cig within a few hours of nursing. If i needed one that badly I would still wait until she had eaten and was full and asleep, then I would pump everything else and then go out. This way if she did wake up and want to eat more I would have the untainted milk hot and ready for her.



I think that it is funny that so many people on here freak out when someone says that they smoke while pregnant or while BFing when women have done it for as long as there has been cigarettes and still do.. they just have to go with the crowd and make a big deal out of it... I do not agree with not even trying to cut down.. i went form a pack a day to pretty much one maybe a week to 2 or 3 a day ( on a bad day) and my daughter is healthy as a horse and has been form the dy she was born... Then I have known women who still smoe a pack a day ( Newports too, ugh) and have 9 lb completely heathy babies. It your choice though and I dont judge.



EDIT :In Illinois you can not smoke in any public place, you must be 15 feet from the building and you are not allowed to smoke in the car with anyone under 18. Even though I am a smoker I lOVE these laws. I live righ on the border of WI (where they do not have these laws) and family there, but I will not take my daughter out there for lunch or anything, and honestly I can not even stand to be around all the smoke...

Answer 7

I am ashamed to admit that I smoke :( I quit using hypnosis when I found out I was pregnant, and didn't smoke the entire time. I was so proud of myself and was convinced I was now a non smoker.

however I am not a very strong willed person by nature, and a few days after we got home from hospital with our son, I thought Hey I can have a smoke again now! so I did.. :(

I am very strict however about smoking around my son. Absolutely no smoking in the house or car, never when he is around, and I do not like to pick him up or anyone else for that matter for about 5 minutes after finishing a smoke.

Bring on the thumbs down!!!

Answer 8

Nah, smoking is yucky.



I ask my mother , or any other smoker for that fact,to wash there hands before holding Sam, and others just to smoke away from him.



I do hate walking out in public, and getting a big waft of smoke coming from just outside the plaza doors.

It just grosses me out to see someone smoking and toting their own child at the same time.

Answer 9

I used to be a social smoker before I was pregnant. Quit without the slightest problem as soon as I found out. Hadnt smoked for two years until last week, I tried one. And Im not gonna lie....it was fantastic. BUT, Im not going to make it a habit.



My rule is, no one smokes around her, especially in closed spaces. Daddy smokes. Outside, and definitely not in the car.

Answer 10

Unfortunately I do. Only about 5 or 6 a day though and only outside. I wear a sweatshirt over my clothes and I hang that sweatshirt up on my porch far away from baby. I come in and wash my hands immediately and use hand sanitizer.



I never smoke in the car, with or without the baby. We have 2 cars but the one we use w/ the baby NO ONE gets to smoke in.



All people coming into contact w/ the baby has to use the hand sanitizer and those that smoke can't do so around the baby of course. At my moms house if she knows I'm coming over she starts smoking outside for the day.. if I see smoke in the air or smell it I get pretty ticked off... They did that Thanksgiving day and I let it go but normally I would say "wtf?? you knew we were coming over". I can't really control people at their own house though...

Answer 11

I dont smoke.

I do not let anyone smoke around my kids.

I wont let family members that do smoke hold my kids if they themselves smell like smoke at all.

I hate it when people feel its ok to smoke directly in front of an entrance to a public building where you have no choice but to walk through there smoke.



I physically get sick at the smell of cigarette smoke and always have so I dont want my baby smelling like it.

Answer 12

My mother in law watched my baby for 6 mos in my home and she's a smoker. She smoked outside and as far as her holding the baby after, I really could not yell at her for that. She loves my child with all her heart and she's been a smoker for 30 yrs. I cannot forbid her from holding her only grandchild.



Nobody else that has contact with my baby smokes. And if they do, they cannot do it around us or in our home.

Answer 13

I think thats smoking is disgusting:)



The thought of my son even inhaling a slight smell of a ciggerett is repulsing to me.

I hate the smell personally, and at all cost will avoid smokers when were out and about town.

The bad thing about it is that everyone smokes in this small town.. im not impressed the least.

I personally think its bad parenting when your standing beside a storller smoking, or when you have you kids in the car smoking.. even when people take kids outside to be with them while THEY smoke.



grr i hate it all together.

IMO

Answer 14

I don't but DH does and he voluntarily leaves the house whenever he wants to smoke; he's not selfish like most smokers who make excuses by opening windows etc. and doesn't complain about cigarette taxes because he knows he deserves it. That being said he is a terrible chain smoker (the kind that you wish wouldn't stand in line next to you unless he showers which of course he has to do if he wants to stand next to me, ha ha) and he has just started taking some of those nocotine withdrawal pills to see if it can help him quit.

Answer 15

I quit after I found out I was pregnant and am not OK with people smoking around my baby. Smokers must wash hands before touching and keep your face away.

Answer 16

I am dead set against people smoking near me and my children.



When i was pregnant with my first son, all of my partner's family smoked. i didn't care if they did, just so long as i wasn't in the house, if so they had to go outside. It increases the risks of SIDS and it isn't good for you or bub.



Now i have a 21 month old and am pregnant with my second (13 days to go). i still stand by what i did with my first. No smoking near me or my son. I think it is disgusting, people who do so quite obviously don't care about their children's well being.



In Australia, it is an immediate $500 fine for people who are caught smoking in the car with children under the age of 16. i agree with this 100%



Again this is my personal opinion.

Answer 17

Sadly I do smoke, and so does the hubby....but we don't smoke in the house and we don't smoke in the car when she;s inside (that and there's a ban now for smoking in cars with children not that we would) We stand outside for an extra 10mins after we're done smoking to air off the fumes off of us and wash our hands. My daughter is exposed though at certain peoples houses because when we come over there's usually a designated smoking room (which I don't agree with, I bent over backwards bleaching my walls and repainting before she was born because we used to smoke in the house)



I'm trying to quit right now, and since we smoke outside I do smoke less...expecially now since its winter lol

Answer 18

Be straight forward. Tell her that you have something important to say. Sit down and tell her that you've been smoking for a year and a half. Tell her your not smoking like a pack per day and this is just something you enjoy.

Answer 19

IN MY HOME THERE IS NO SMOKING. my husband smokes outside--- i am allergic, and our families have a history of allergies to it. and before you criticize me, my husband and i decided we did not want them exposed at home. we can not control other people, but our home is smoke free. my grandparents are chain smokers and when we visit we stay only an hour or two. we have been married 7 years and our children are 4 and 2 and hubby tries to smoke before we get in our car. in summer our windows are down.

Answer 20

I quit when I found out I was prego. I still do not smoke and I do not let my daughter around smoke. I ask people to wash their hands before they hold her.

Answer 21

No, but my mom does. And she didn't have any policies. She smoked while we were in the car, while she held us, she even smoked when she was pregnant with me and my 2 siblings

Answer 22

No I do smoke, never, and never will.

I've got a "no smoking, baby breathing" sign out my door, people would understand and not smoke in my home.

I'll try not to let smokers cuddle her if they just smoke.

and try to avoid areas with too smokers, or walk pass fast.

I think it is in the baby's and the smoker's best interest to QUIT.

Answer 23

i hate to admitt it, but i am a smoker....i have tried several times to quit...but hese are the rules....no one...not even myself is permitted to smoke in my house....no one is allowed near my baby at all while smoking a cigarette....my baby is never and will never be in a car that has been smoked in...hopefully i will have stopped before he really notices this nasty habit of mine

Answer 24

no, I don't. I don't bring my children around smoke, either.

My in-laws smoke outside, and I prefer my 4 year old to not join them outside while they smoke. They wash their hands before holding our baby.

Answer 25

I quit smoking with my first pregnancy, i smoked through my second



But no smoking is allowed in our house, luckily the only place they go where there is smoking allowed inside is my parents house and my dad is technically not allowed to smoke in there. No one can hold them while smoking.



Yes we smoke in the car, with the window down, i know it's bad.

Answer 26

I am so against people smoking anywhere in the near vicinity of either of my children, I feel like smoking should be banned in public places I know that probably sounds extreme to alot of people but it is poison and I HATE it!

Answer 27

ls this for real? Smoking around a baby is abuse.