Do you have children?

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by shaddupalready on Sun Oct 18, 2009 4:58 am

Yeah, okay. I smoked during my pregnancy. My doctor knew about it, and didn't care. All she asked was that I cut down -- and I did! I cut down from 30 cigarettes a day to 10. I did everything else in the pregnancy the way I was supposed to -- healthy diet, prenatal vitamins, no alcohol, etc. My baby was born healthy as can be. (Funny thing is, the only thing my doctor DID yell at me about was having one soda every two weeks during the pregnancy.) Honestly, I think the reason why she didn't encourage me to quit is because she's aware of the same thing I am -- LOTS of people (I know several personally) have smoked during their pregnancies and had perfectly normal, healthy babies. When a low birth weight DOES happen to a child of a woman who smokes, I think it's due to other teratogens. Women that I've known who have smoked during pregnancy and completely cut out everything else have all given birth to healthy, happy babies. I think this society is just looking to blame everything on smoking!

They actually did a study on several thousand women about the effects of smoking -- a certain percentage of them smoked, and the rest were nonsmokers. Basically, they wanted this study to prove that smoking DOES cause low birthweight and premature deliveries... what they actually discovered was that the average difference between the babies of women who smoked during pregnancy and women who didn't was only 1/2 lb of weight and 6 days gestational age. Hardly significant. But, at the end of the study the researchers went on to say that it still mattered, and that smoking was still awful (that's not verbatim, of course).

And that's why my doctor didn't care. It's not as big of a deal as everyone wants it to be.

However, I don't smoke around my baby. I've quit smoking in the car (when he's in it), and quit smoking in the house. When I do have a cigarette, I wash my hands (about 90% of the time -- sometimes I forget) and pop a mint in my mouth so I don't feel like I'm breathing cigarette stink all over him.

HOWEVER. I do not change my clothes. And sometimes if he's awake and not fussy I take him outside with me and stand several feet away from him, downwind, and talk to him while I smoke. And I'm getting hell for it from the whole rest of the world.

My mother smoked around me all the time, and I turned out just fine. (Granted, I'm a smoker now... but you get the picture.) She didn't smoke in the house, but she smoked in the car. It was never a big deal. But now all of a sudden I'm hearing that I'm supposed to do everything short of taking a shower and washing my hair after every cigarette because I have a baby? Isn't it enough that I don't smoke around him?

I have several friends that DO smoke around their children in the house and car. I will probably never do that, mainly because I'll be promptly burned at the stake if I do so. Do you have children? What are your smoking habits around them? Do you actually change your clothes before you hold your little ones? Am I going about this horribly wrong?

shaddupalready Newbie

Newbie Joined: Oct 18, 2009 Posts: 17

by Seano on Sun Oct 18, 2009 5:26 am

My eldest child Erin was still-born on 24th of October 1990, and my wife had stopped the occasional Benson & Hedges Sterling Ultra-Lights as soon as the DIY bathroom litmus test came up red.

I woke up at sunrise the morning of the 23rd to find her not sleeping beside me, and in my surprise, grabbed a set of trackie daks and raced out to see her there in the back yard, stretching the arms, shoulders and most importantly, the womb that her newborn daughter was trapped for upcoming parole in 90 days or so, and I grabbed a bbq stool as I ran to the clothesline.

Unfortunately for Erin, the doc had an important golf tournament at Joondalup that morning, although we waited at the hospital all day until they told me to leave and go home if I'd leave my number. I got the knock on the door from the sympathetic uniformed grave-yard shift police constables at around 2:30am the next morning, and enjoyed a couple of minutes under matron's careful eyes to hold my frozen daughter's corpse in my arms and say farewell for the next 9 years. She came to me one night in 1999, but she's been busy since then.

Hanging the laundry (my job) on the line at dawn at the beginning of the third trimester is dangerous for child of the non-smoking mother-to-be, among other hearts.

Seano

Puffer Joined: Oct 17, 2009 Posts: 44 Location: Australia

by runamok on Sun Oct 18, 2009 6:19 am

shaddupalready wrote:

However, I don't smoke around my baby. I've quit smoking in the car (when he's in it), and quit smoking in the house. When I do have a cigarette, I wash my hands (about 90% of the time -- sometimes I forget) and pop a mint in my mouth so I don't feel like I'm breathing cigarette stink all over him.

And sometimes if he's awake and not fussy I take him outside with me and stand several feet away from him, downwind, and talk to him while I smoke.

Congratulations! You are well on your way to being successfully and totally indoctrinated by anti-tobacco's propaganda and emotional blackmail.

shaddupalready wrote:

Isn't it enough that I don't smoke around him?

No! You smoke. It is evil. It will never be enough until you not only quit, but once you do quit, you must denounce, persecute and ostrasize all those that have not seen the light as you have.

shaddupalready wrote:

I have several friends that DO smoke around their children in the house and car. I will probably never do that, mainly because I'll be promptly burned at the stake if I do so.

You need to arm yourself with some facts and here is a good place to start: http://www.davehitt.com/facts/
Print up a bunch of copies and when your witch-hunting friends begin stacking the wood, pass them out, tell them to read it and if they have any issues with what they've read, bring data that disproves what is on those pages.

Anti-smoking is a dangerous, cult-like religion that preys on our emotions as a way to get to our wallets. Right now you are part of the problem. Get educated and become part of the solution.

runamok

Smoking Lobby Sponsor Joined: Dec 20, 2004 Posts: 1288

by runamok on Sun Oct 18, 2009 6:39 am

Seano wrote:

I've read this several times and I do not have a clue as to what any of it means. Did I miss something?

runamok

Smoking Lobby Sponsor Joined: Dec 20, 2004 Posts: 1288

by Seano on Sun Oct 18, 2009 6:45 am

runamok wrote:

I've read this several times and I do not have a clue as to what any of it means. Did I miss something?

Let them eat cake.

Seano

Puffer Joined: Oct 17, 2009 Posts: 44 Location: Australia

by libertarian99 on Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:50 am

Common sense tells you that you are taking enough precautions if the baby is not breathing in any wisps of secondhand smoke. The baby can't possibly suffer any adverse health effects if they are not actually breathing in any potentially dangerous chemicals.

That said, it's pretty much normal for smokers to suffer from continued fear, worry and shame, even when the people around them can't possibly be suffering damage from their cigarette smoke. The whole point of the antismoking movement has been to inflict as much psychological damage on smokers as possible, in the hopes that you will quit to avoid further mental torture.

I totally sympathize, because I feel myself starting to panic if my 92-year-old mother comes anywhere near me while I am smoking. If she comes out on the porch while I'm smoking, I immediately tell her to go back inside. If we're both outside, I keep stepping back and she has to chase me around the yard to finish the conversation. This woman has survived all kinds of adversity for 92 years, but I'm terrified she will catch a wisp of my smoke and keel over dead on the spot.

libertarian99 Enthusiastic Smoker

Enthusiastic Smoker Joined: May 01, 2009 Posts: 453

by gilster on Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:05 am

"Be Seeing You"

(Esoteric reference to the TV show "The Prisoner")

gilster

Smoking Lobby Sponsor Joined: Apr 19, 2006 Posts: 1214

by libertarian99 on Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:13 am

runamok wrote:

shaddupalready wrote:

Congratulations! You are well on your way to being successfully and totally indoctrinated by anti-tobacco's propaganda and emotional blackmail.

You know, I think it's all getting worse because people have gone to such great lengths to make sure their infants and toddlers are never exposed to smoke. By the time they reach adulthood, their noses are hypersensitive to it. It used to be a fairly common smell, but now it's so rare in public, it's become a huge issue if someone detects tobacco smoke at all.

On top of that, a lot of people are raising their kids to believe the universe revolves around them, and whatever they want takes top priority and has to be addressed. Parents used to put their marrriage at the center of the family, and children were "seen and not heard." They had to fit in and adapt instead of expecting others to revolve around their every need.

Part of the parents' job was also to teach kids how to deal with disappointment and not getting their way all the time, because obviously the universe doesn't protect grown-ups and people need to be a little tough to make it.

I think that's part of the reason why the antis keep getting more and more -- dare I say it -- sissified? They seem to be getting more and more hypersensitive and fearful of what used to be considered a common smell. If a serious global crisis ever does happen and these sensitive-nosed people have to struggle for survival, I don't think they will make it.

libertarian99 Enthusiastic Smoker

Enthusiastic Smoker Joined: May 01, 2009 Posts: 453

by libertarian99 on Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:29 am

gilster wrote:

"Be Seeing You"

(Esoteric reference to the TV show "The Prisoner")

WTF? Runamok is already confused today. Don't make it worse! We could all be flamed!

libertarian99 Enthusiastic Smoker

Enthusiastic Smoker Joined: May 01, 2009 Posts: 453

by runamok on Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:45 am

libertarian99 wrote:

I think that's part of the reason why the antis keep getting more and more -- dare I say it -- sissified?

Hysterical and shrill should also be added to that.

runamok

Smoking Lobby Sponsor Joined: Dec 20, 2004 Posts: 1288

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