Editorial: Educate to stamp out risks to babies

Health Ministry figures show a quarter of pregnant Bay of Plenty women smoke. The fact is, due to smoking's modern status as a fairly uncool habit with the potential for ghastly side-effects, most smoking is under-reported.

The true rate of smoking mums-to-be in our community is almost certainly higher.

If the women involved do not know the risks associated with smoking during pregnancy, the answer is education. They must understand they risk horrific outcomes, such as miscarriage, stillbirth, or cot death, as well as complications which are less life-threatening but still unwelcome, such as difficulty with breastfeeding.

If the women do have some cognisance of the dangers, but continue to smoke, the answer is still education. Few who have battled to quit smoking will argue about the addictive power of nicotine, but patches, gums and lozenges are available which will, in part, satisfy the addiction without affecting the unborn child.

If the women smoking during childbirth do so knowing the risks and knowing there are less harmful ways they could be satisfying their cravings, they perhaps need mental health support. It would be awful to care so little for the life you were bringing into the world that you willingly, knowingly, put that life at risk.

Of course a pregnant smoker is, in all likelihood, once just a plain old, run-of-the-mill smoker. If we could stop young women taking up smoking, we could prevent the situation where they are pregnant and smoking.

It's hard to see what more can be done to dissuade people from smoking. The costs are exorbitant, the health risks are spelt out in graphic imagery on packets, and you can't partake of the habit in bars where a drink and a ciggie once went hand-in-hand.

If adults who work to earn their pay packet choose to spend their money on cigarettes, I don't consider it any of my business. But when the environment they pollute is the cocoon for a growing child, it's much harder to ignore.

When it comes to pregnancy and smoking we cannot force anyone to give up. But mums-to-be who smoke must be educated and supported. Smoking during pregnancy is not some small consideration, some minor vice. When every puff crosses the placenta and affects the baby, it is a significant concern.

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board obviously does a great job of monitoring this trend and attempting to influence the free choice of pregnant women. The Health Ministry must ensure DHBs such as ours have all the resources required to adequately educate and support women who smoke during pregnancy. Our region's current rate of smoking mums-to-be is shameful.