Protecting baby's health

Smoking in pregnancy poses serious health risks to mums-to-be and their unborn child - help is now at hand to help them quit

"Just knowing Sue was there was a big help to me" - Nikki Stevens

After five years of smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, Nikki Stevens (pictured) found a very good reason to pack in cigarettes for good.
She became pregnant with her first child.
The 20-year-old didn't think twice about quitting because she didn't want to harm her baby.
But Nikki felt she needed help, especially in the first few weeks after stopping, which is why she agreed to get in touch with the Hull Stop Smoking Service for Pregnant Women after it was recommended to her by her doctor.
"I decided to go cold turkey, if you like, as soon as I knew I was pregnant," Nikki says.
"It took a lot of willpower to suddenly give up cigarettes and at times I found it hard going."
Nikki received encouragement and support from Sue Cullen, a smoking cessation specialist with the service.
The two would meet up once a week throughout the pregnancy during Nikki's lunch break at her place of work in Park Street, Hull city centre.
"Just knowing Sue was there was a big help to me," Nikki added.
"I can really recommend the service to other expectant mums in Hull as it really worked for me."
Nikki says she is more than £30 a week better off since she stopped smoking, and is now using her spare cash to pay for baby clothes and other essential items for her child.

Keep it in the family

Nikki Stevens (right) tests the levels of carbon monoxide in her body with smoking cessation specialist Sue Cullen

Meanwhile, the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service is working alongside Hull Teaching PCT to encourage adults to stop smoking if they have children in the home.
As part of the Smoke-free Homes scheme fire officers are supplying and fitting smoke alarms free of charge.
They are also offering advice on potential fire risks in the home such as the dangers caused by smoking in bed.
Health visitors meet families in their homes to encourage them to protect their children from the effects of smoking by:

• Keeping all cigarettes, cigarette lighters and ash trays out of the reach and the sight of children.
  This makes children less likely to imitate their parents and begin smoking themselves.
• Strive for a 'gold' rating as part of the scheme which means a property is free of cigarette smoke all the time.
• And, if gold is more than can be reached to begin with, strive for 'silver' which means adults smoke in only one room of the house, or 'bronze' which is when adults commit to not smoking in the house when children are present.

Health risks

Smoking increases the likelihood of going into labour prematurely and mums who smoke are three times more likely to deliver a smaller baby.
Inhaling cigarette smoke, which contains 4,000 different chemicals, also increases the risk of miscarriage and having a still-born baby.
Babies in the womb absorb a cocktail of smoking-related toxins from the mum's bloodstream.
This includes carbon monoxide, which is a gas also found in car exhaust fumes, ammonia and cyanide.
Carbon monoxide stops the bloodstream from carrying oxygen around the mother's body, and without a good supply of oxygen, a foetus cannot grow as it should.
And once the child has been born, mothers who have smoked increase their baby's chances of suffering asthma, chest infections, glue ear, and cot death.
Babies born to mums who have not smoked will be less irritable following the birth because they do not experience nicotine withdrawal.

Working in partnership
Hull Teaching Primary Care Trust tel. (01482) 344700