How to Stop Smoking During Pregnancy

Pregnancy requires women to make a lot of changes in their lives. Along with developing better eating habits and healthier sleeping patterns, it's important to the baby's health and growth for women to stop smoking. Smoking deprives a growing baby of oxygen and can cause preterm labor and small, low-birthweight babies along with a host of other health problems for both mother and child. It's never easy to quit smoking, but pregnancy may be the best reason you've ever had!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Support network

1. Make a list of the specific reasons that you want to stop smoking for your baby. It's easy enough to write down that you want to quit because it's better for your baby, but it's more persuasive to list the particular dangers. It's very powerful to see on paper that quitting will give your baby a better chance of being born on time, make her less likely to have lung or any other health problems and reduce the risk of long-term learning issues.
2. Write down the benefits to you. Quitting smoking during pregnancy isn't just about your baby; it's about your health, too. Not only will you reduce your own long-term risk of health problems, but it will also give you more energy to make it through your pregnancy.
3. Post your lists in prominent places. Put them up in every room so you can see them wherever you go and whenever you are tempted to smoke.
4. Avoid temptation. Choose substitution activities for times when you normally would have smoked and stay away from unsupportive, smoking friends. Substitution activities can be as simple as chewing gum instead of reaching for a cigarette or using exercise as a way to gain a natural high.
5. Build a support system. Tell your friends and family of your plans and ask them for their help. Having people you can call upon when you are having difficulty with your goal is invaluable.
6. Contact one of many programs, like the National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers or the Tobacco QuitLine (1-800-QUIT-NOW), that provide smoking-cessation counseling and plans specifically to be used during pregnancy (see Resources below). Your doctor may also be able to direct you to a local program.
7. Choose a day to quit. This is the day you will get rid of all your cigarettes and other smoking paraphernalia. Spend as much of the day as you can at the movies, in restaurants or in other places where smoking is not permitted.

Tips & Warnings

• It's often difficult to stop smoking "cold turkey," but there are risks to using nicotine replacement therapy during pregnancy. Discuss the pros and cons of such a program with your doctor before beginning one.