Pregnant smokers 'should not be made to feel guilty'

Pregnant smokers 'should not be made to feel guilty'

It is better to offer support to help pregnant women who are smokers kick the habit than to make them feel guilty for their habit, an expert has argued.

Professional policy adviser at the Royal College of Midwives in the UK Janet Fyle argued that help and support are better for helping pregnant smokers give up than making them feel guilty about the potential damage they are doing to their unborn baby.

Ms Fyle noted that smoking is an addiction and that perhaps the approach that should be taken to help smokers quit is the same one that is taken when dealing with other addicts - showing why they should do it for themselves.

"When you consider that two-thirds of pregnancies are unplanned, it is guilt [tripping] the women to tell them to give up something for another individual when they can't conceptualise trying to come to terms with the fact that they are pregnant," Ms Fyle stated.

Her comments follow research from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet which showed that blood pressure and heart rate control in the newborn babies of women who smoked during pregnancy are abnormal and worsen during the first year of life.

A number of organisations operate across Ireland to offer help and support to individuals at every stage of pregnancy.