Smoking is a well-known health hazard for people of all ages, including babies born to mothers who smoke. Doctors urge everyone – male or female, young or old – not to smoke or to quit smoking.

In adults, smoking raises the odds of heart disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, and other serious health problems. When women smoke while pregnant, they're more likely to miscarry, have a stillborn child, give birth prematurely and have a baby with low birth weight and/or lung problems.

About 11 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. are smokers, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest statistics. The number of pregnant smokers in Greene County is nearly double the national average – about 20 percent of live births, according to the Springfield-Greene County Health Department’s 2006 Community Health Report Card.

“Stopping smoking is one major thing a woman can do to really make a big difference in the health of her pregnancy,” says Gerald Joseph, M.D., medical director for St. John’s Women’s Services.

“We aren’t here to make pregnant smokers feel bad or guilty about their smoking," he continues. " We know nicotine is one of the most, if not the most, addictive substances known, and that it takes several tries for most people to quit. That’s why we as medical providers start educating pregnant smokers as early in the pregnancy as possible about the risks of smoking and secondhand smoke. Evidence has shown that if a pregnant smoker stops smoking by 16 weeks gestation, nearly all of the potential negative effects of smoking are gone by the time she delivers.”

Dr. Joseph says nicotine replacement therapy and medication, such as the antidepressant Wellbutrin, are available through the patient’s OB/GYN or through St. John’s Smoke-Free Babies program to help pregnant smokers quit.

“We have to weigh the benefits with the risks when prescribing any medication to a pregnant woman,” Dr. Joseph says. “With heavy smokers, the benefits almost always outweigh the risks of these medications, if it helps these women stop smoking.”

Health Department Director Kevin Gipson – who calls the percentage of pregnant smokers in Greene County “unacceptable” – urges pregnant smokers to take advantage of the Health Department’s and area hospitals’ smoking cessation programs, which are often designed specifically to help pregnant women break the habit.

St. John’s Smoke-Free Babies program includes an initial one-on-one consultation with a trained smoking cessation counselor to develop an individualized plan of action, weekly phone follow-up with a smoking cessation counselor, medication therapy/nicotine replacement as approved by the patient’s physician, and assistance with stress management.

To schedule an appointment with a smoking cessation counselor, please call 417-820-3400 or 888-242-6538, or ask your St. John’s OB/GYN for a referral.

Smoking during pregnancy can cause:

• Miscarriage
• Stillbirth
• Birth defects
• Placenta previa and placental abruption (when the placenta detaches from the uterine wall before the baby is born)
• Premature rupture of membranes
• Intrauterine growth restriction and low birth weight
• Baby to require care in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit
• Baby to have bronchitis and pneumonia, ear infections, asthma, increased risk for lung disease or cancer later in life, colic (unexplained crying and irritability), SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), behavioral disorders or ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).

Tips to help you quit

• Get help – join St. John’s Smoke-Free Babies or other smoking cessation program. Call a St. John’s Smoke-Free Babies counselor at 417-820-3400 or 888-242-6538 to get started.
• Evaluate your past and present smoking habits.
• Make a plan.
• Tell everyone you know.
• Find someone to quit with you.
• Write yourself a contract.
• Remove the smoking triggers.
• Avoid situations and behaviors that promote smoking. Do not go places where many people are smoking such as bars or clubs, and smoking sections of restaurants.
• Drink fewer caffeinated beverages; caffeine may stimulate your urge to smoke. Also avoid alcohol as it may also increase your urge to smoke and can be harmful to your baby.
• Change your habits connected with smoking. If you smoked while driving or when feeling stressed, try other activities to replace smoking.
• Keep mints or gum (preferably sugarless) on hand for those times when you get the urge to smoke.
• Stay active to keep your mind off smoking and help relieve tension: take a walk, exercise, read a book or try a new a hobby.