*In the United States it is estimated that 20 percent or more of women smoke throughout their pregnancies. 14
*In pregnant women, carbon monoxide (a lethal gas) and the high doses of nicotine obtained when they inhale tobacco smoke interferes with oxygen supply to the fetus. Nicotine readily crosses the placenta, and nicotine concentrations in the fetus can be as much as 15 percent higher than maternal levels. It appears that nicotine is concentrated in fetal blood, amniotic fluid, and breast milk. 15
*Newborn babies of smoking mothers have the same amount of the nicotine by-product cotinine in their urine as adult smokers, and almost certainly spend their first days of life going through nicotine withdrawal, according to a new study by researchers at Mont-Godinne University Hospital in Yvoir, Belgium.9
*Carbon monoxide and nicotine combined likely account for the developmental delays commonly seen in the infants of smoking mothers.
*Cigarette smoking during pregnancy poses a wide variety of risks for a mother and baby. Smoking contributes to miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm delivery, low birthweight, and potentially life-threatening pregnancy complications such as placenta previa and abruptio placentae.1
*Smoking in pregnancy accounts for an estimated 20 to 30 percent of low birthweight babies and up to 14% of preterm deliveries. A dose-response association exists between maternal smoking and reduced birth weight.2 Exposure to passive or secondhand smoke during pregnancy doubles the non-smoker’s risk of having a low birthweight baby.3
Healthy Beginnings is a comprehensive smoking cessation program created specifically for women who are pregnant,nursing or have children under the age of 5
Due to the unknown long term effects of common stop smoking medications during pregnancy and nursing this is a medication free program.
In fact, The Institute For Safe Medication Practices recently announced major problems with Pfizer's Chantix drug to help stop smoking. Here is a quote from the report, "potentially lethal cardiac rhythm disturbances, severe skin reactions, acute myocardial infarction, seizures, diabetes, psychosis, aggression and suicide." Click Here to see full report
During this program you will receive support and encouragement along with 2 private sessions with respected Clinical Hypnotherapist, Brandy Astwood (That's me, owner of My Birth Connection!!)
Research has shown hypnosis to be the safest, most effective way to stop smoking.
Hypnosis is highly effective for smoking cessation; research shows that when done correctly the success rate is slightly above 66%. Compare that to the success rates of trying to quit on your own: 5%, using behavior therapy 25%, or using Nicotine Replacement Products, 25% and hypnosis looks like the best option out there. In fact, there is no other method supported by research that even comes close.
Did you know that scientific studies have shown that hypnosis is the #1 most effective way in the world to quit smoking? It's true. The findings of 600 different studies involving more than 72,000 smokers which compared the success rates of 15 different Stop Smoking Therapies (Therapies including: Acupuncture, Nicotine Chewing Gum, Nicotine Patch, Medication, Smoke Aversion Techniques, Other Aversive Techniques, Hypnosis, Educational programs, Physician Advice, Physician Intervention including more than mere advice, Group-Withdrawal Clinics, Five-day Plans, and Self-care Programs, along with various other stop smoking methods) found that hypnosis is the #1 most effective way in the world to quit smoking! (as published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, 1992, Volume 77, Number 4, pages 554 through 561.)
To schedule you 1st session, please call
Brandy at 209-304-84965
*In an extensive review of risk factors associated with low birthweight, maternal smoking was identified as the single largest modifiable risk factor for both intrauterine growth retardation and prematurity in developed countries.4
*The effect of tobacco on birthweight is due to increased concentrations of carboxyhemoglobin in maternal and fetal blood, fetal hypoxia, and both maternal and fetal nutritional deficits. 5
*A recent study of 1343 obese and non-obese pregnant women to assess whether maternal prepregnancy obesity or weight gain during pregnancy could improve the negative effects of smoking on birthweight. 6 Findings demonstrated that neither obesity nor high gestational weight gain eliminated the effects of smoking on birthweight. However, there was evidence that cigarette smoking, combined with low maternal weight gain was associated with the highest risk of low birthweight for infants of all women. 6
*Smoking and maternal gain during pregnancy are independent, additive predictors of birthweight and women who smoke are more likely to experience a low gestational weight gain since cigarette smoking is associated with the consumption of less healthy diets by both pregnant and non-pregnant women.7 Smoking increases the requirement for iron, and reduces the availability of nutrients such as VitB12 , amino acids, Vitamin C, folate and zinc, therefore individualized nutritional counseling is recommended in addition to smoking cessation efforts.8
*Research reported in 1994 found mothers’ smoking a half pack a day or more during pregnancy was associated with lower IQ scores in their three- and four-year-old children as compared to a nonsmoking control group.10 Several studies have shown that children of mothers who smoke also have slight, but measurable, deficiencies in physical growth and emotional development.11
*Maternal smoking, both before and after the birth of the child, has been firmly linked to the incidence of SIDS. In one study, if the mother smoked during the pregnancy and was also anemic the risk of SIDS was increased by 300 percent.12
*Researchers at John Hopkins University in Baltimore report that some babies have a six-to-nine-fold increased risk of cleft palate if their mothers smoked cigarettes during pregnancy.13
1.Institute of Medicine. Nutrition During Pregnancy: Weight Gain; Nutrient Supplements.
Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1990.
2.Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation: U.S. Surgeon General’s Report: 1990.
3March Of Dimes. Tobacco Use During Pregnancy Fact Sheet. 1996.
4.Kramer MS. Interuterine growth and gestational duration determinants. Pediatrics.
1987;80:502-511.
6.Hellerstedt WL, Himes JH, Story M, Alton IR, Edwards LE. The effects of cigarette smoking
and gestational weight change on birth outcomes in obese and normal-weight women. Am J
Public Health. 1997; 87:591-596.
7.Institute of Medicine. Committee on Nutritional Status during Pregnancy and Lactation.
Nutrition Services in Perinatal Care. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1992.
9.AMCHP Updates, May 1997 vol. 2 no. 2.
10. American Lung Association of Washington: A Review of the Scientific Evidence 1996.
12. American Lung Association of Washington: A Review of the Scientific Evidence 1996.
13.Indiana State Department of Health, Vital Statistic data, 1996.
14National Institute On Drug Abuse: NIDA Research Reports - Nicotine Addiction. 1997.
15.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
16.he Smoking Cessation Clinical Practice Guideline Panel and Staff. The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Smoking Cessation Clinical Practice Guidelines. JAMA 275:1270-1280, 1996.
