This is disappointing news indeed.
The latest figures from the UK show that the number of women who continue to smoke throughout their pregnancy, right up until the day their baby is born, has increased.
According to the latest stats from NHS Digital, 10.4 percent of women in Britain are still smoking on delivery and only 111 out of 209 local groups currently meet the national ambition of 11 per cent or less.
In addition to the increase, there is also huge variability across the country with as many as 31 per cent of women in some areas still smoking at the time of giving birth, compared to only 1.8 per cent in other areas.
Along with the Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group, coordinated by Action on Smoking and Health, the charities Best Beginnings and Sands stress that women across the country need to have access to specialist support to help them quit smoking. They also stress that more needs to be done to raise awareness of the health risks that smoking poses to babies before during and after birth.
With this in mind, they’ve launched a new public health awareness campaign called Our Chance to help reduce stillbirth, maternal death and neonatal death. Our Chance is a series of 25 videos which highlight key actions pregnant women can take to increase their chances of being healthy and having a healthy baby.
One of the Our Chance films features a midwife raising awareness of the health risks smoking poses to babies before during and after birth and debunks the myth that women who smoke will experience less painful births because their babies will be smaller as a result of smoking.
In fact, smaller babies are more at risk of miscarriage, premature birth and potentially fatal complications after birth. The side effects of smoking can include lowering the amount of oxygen available to the mother and to her growing baby, increasing her baby’s heart rate and ultimately increasing the chances of miscarriage and stillbirth.
Another video, ‘How I stopped smoking’, features young mum Shedenise bravely discussing why she felt the need to give up smoking when she became pregnant.
Speaking of her decision, Shedenise said:
“For me, I had to give myself a reality check. I don’t want anything to happen to my child just for me wanting to have a cigarette. I knew that smoking was bad for babies and I know that the worst possible outcomes is having a baby which is stillborn or experiencing a miscarriage. But some women don’t understand the dangers of smoking while they’re pregnant and that’s why I wanted to be involved in Our Chance.”
Smoking causes up to 2,200 premature births, 5,000 miscarriages and 300 perinatal deaths every year in the UK. The latest research shows that 13 per cent of Irish women fail to kick the habit while pregnant.
The Our Chance videos can be watched here.
For advice on how to quit smoking for good and support while you do it, visit Quit.ie.
