Smoking shame of pregnant women
Hundreds of mums-to-be are putting the health of themselves and their babies at risk by smoking during pregnancy.
Almost 1,000 expectant mums across our area were still smoking at their time of delivery in the past year.
Shock NHS figures show 402 pregnant women in Portsmouth were smoking until delivery with 242 in Fareham and Gosport, 177 in East Hampshire and 112 in West Sussex.
It comes amid claims teenage girls are smoking during pregnancy believing they will have an easier birth because smoking will mean a smaller baby.
Health bosses are now appealing to women to quit and give their unborn babies a better start in life.
And they are backing our I'm A Quitter campaign, which aims to get as many people as possible to give up before the smoking ban comes into force on July 1.
Portsmouth City Primary Care Trust public health consultant Dawn Saunders said: 'You don't just have smaller babies, you have sick babies if you smoke, and there is evidence to suggest that the baby will have withdrawal symptoms from nicotine as soon as it is born. Babies born to women who smoke are more likely to be premature and of low birth weights.'
Melanie Every, from the Royal College of Midwives, said: 'I could spend all day explaining the reasons why not to smoke while you are pregnant and the harm it causes babies. There is a higher incidence of miscarriage, higher incidence of premature birth and babies being small even if they are born at full gestation.
'There is no safe amount to smoke and even passive smoking is extremely harmful, though I think it is an exaggeration to say teenagers are deliberately smoking to have easier births.
'Women only tend to smoke during pregnancy if they smoked before.'
NHS bosses are to fund a full-time senior midwife to help pregnant women kick the habit. She will work with midwives and pregnant women in some of the most deprived areas of the city.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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