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I am not a smoker, but my mom did smoke with all 8 of her pregnancies. Two of us got asthma, and the rest are perfectly healthy. We can't really say we got asthma FROM the cigarettes..because you'd think if that was the case the other 6 kids would have gotten it too, right? If you're concerned that your dr. is not informing you right, you can always request a second opinion. I do know lots of women who smoke during their pregnancies, and their babies are ok. Like I said, I AM NOT A SMOKER AND NEVER HAVE BEEN... just want to clear that up so people don't think I'm justifying smoking while pregnant or anything. I'm just stating what I have seen from experience. A friend of mine did have a low birthweight baby and she smoked the whole time, but her dr said there wasn't any way to directly connect the cigarrettes with the low weight (she had really high bp too). It's good that you're trying to quit, and 7 cigs a day is WAY better than a whole pack..just keep trying and maybe you can cut it down to 3 a day...just take a drag here and there (don't know if that will curb your craving or not, but it's worth a shot!)

dude, google "effects of smoking while pregnant" then tell us what YOU think. It is definitely time for a new doctor.

I know quite a few people that smoked while pregnant but cut down on the amount of cigs smoked (one or two that really did not cut down) and amazingly enough there seemed to be no effect on the babies. The birthweight was good as of yet none seem to have allergies and we are talking about children up to 5 years old now......I am not sure about the withdrawl part and that is all I know. Good luck but do not take this info to mean ...go hog wild....just do your best that is all anyone can ask.......

I was a caffeine addict when I became pg and gave it up, cold turkey, when I became pg. It was hard at first, but once I got over the cravings, I never looked back. I would suggest you try as hard as possible to quit. If not, then severly limit your intake. Perhaps a puff then extinguish. Smoking is a choice you made, but its not a choice your baby is making. Reseach has PROVEN that is effects your baby. I would give more merit to proven research than to someone's casual observations.

My dhs dad smoked when dhs mom was preggo and my dh has asthma and allergies my dhs brother is fine. I think some kids lungs and bodies just arent able to deal with the smoke as well as others. My aunt smoked 10 or less a day with my cousin and she has asthma no allergies. It is proven all around that smoking can harm your baby your doctor I am a__suming picks the lesser of two evils hpb vs. smoking. I am a former smoker who quit when trying to get preggo- trust me it was stressful I had an ectopic pregnancy and a miscarriage before having ds so yes quitting was so stinkin hard but I dont think quitting would be hard cmpared to wathcing my ds struggle for breath over something I did to him. I think in this day and age you know all the risks and you know exaclty what it can do to your baby. The fact that you question your doctor tells me you know the health risks. 5-7 cigs a pack nobody knows how many it takes to casue damage a game of Rusian Roulette if you ask me.

Well this might surprise everyone and I will probably get slammed for it, but I would rather answer your question anyways and try to convince you to stop. I never did completely quit smoking when I was pregnant. I planned on going cold turkey and my OB told me this could be bad on the baby and it was better for me to smoke a few cigarettes a day and be calm then quit and be a mess of stress all the time. Looking back now I think that was pretty bad advice, but first pregnancy and everything so I trusted him. 5-7 cigarettes a day WILL effect your baby. My son was born weighing 5 lbs. 6 oz. (after the OB said he was at least 8 lbs on the ultrasound) and he was just so tiny. And I hardly smoked at all, way less than 5-7 cigarettes a day. He also had terrible reflux as a baby and still has problems with it. I don't know if anyway that it is related to my smoking but I wonder and feel guilty about it everyday. You are 25 weeks along and if you quit now your baby will have a chance to put on weight and grow perfectly healthy. I also had lots of people tell me "Oh don't worry, I smoked through my whole pregnancy and all my kids are fine." But what if it's not fine? Not that there is anything horribly wrong with my son, but I still feel guilty about smoking almost every day and wish I had had someone there to help me quit that was supportive. Please learn from my mistake and just quit, no matter what it takes. And I have been in the same boat as you and did what you are doing so you know this isn't some preachy "Smoking makes you a horrible person" lecture but I will help you and support you if you decide you would like to quit, I wish someone had said that to me and I wouldn't feel so terrible about the desicion that I made when I was pregnant. Good luck to you. Make the right choice for your baby so you wont' regret it later.

Sorry for my short response before but I have to share. I have an acquaintance who smoked throughout her pregnancy and was having problems during it which were contributed by her smoking. Once during a hospital stay when she went into premature labor she demanded the nurses take out her IV and unhook her monitors so she could go outside and have a quick smoke (and claimed it would calm her down). Needless to say, once they stopped the labor the hospital asked her NOT to return there to give birth. She ended up having a very low birth weight baby who was in an incubator for months before she was released from the hospital and today at 3 years old she has had non stop medical problems that were all due to her being premature (as a result of her mother's smoking). I could go into detail about all this but will spare you. The mom now has benefits and fund raisers to pay for her daughter's medical expenses and it is such a mess. All because she couldn't stop smoking for a few months. I know it is hard and I am not coming down on you, I used to smoke before I got pregnant and just saw what it did to this little life. I wouldn't even consider smoking while pregnant after that. I say stick to your guns and do your absolute best to quit. Good luck to you!

I hope you can quit for your child's sake. Is there someone in your life that can support you in this? I am not judging, just hope you can find the strength to quit. I am not a smoker so I don't know what it's like.

Ry - I thought your first response was great and right-on.

I quit smoking the day my pregnancy test said positive. In fact, I was a pack a day or more smoker- I had several packs left out of a carton, and I gave them away just so I woulnd't be tempted. It was not hard at all. In fact, it was the best way I could think of to quit. I was no longer damaging myself only- I was harming an unborn child. MY unborn child. I couldn't do it!! Even though this is not the way it happens... I actually pictured my baby in my stomach completely engulfed in smoke- like on a Friday night at a crowded bar- and she was suffocating from all of the smoke- that mental image made me quit right then and there!! I gained more weight early on.. and I contribute that to quitting, but I can reverse the effects of gaining weight... I can't reverse the damage I would have done to my baby. JMO

I've known two women in the past year who have smoked during their pregnancy - about 1-3 cigarettes a day they said. Both of their babies were under 7 lbs when born, and both didn't gain weight very well for the first few months. I don't smoke myself, but I used to smoke several years ago. I am so glad I quit and if you can quit, that's awesome. It's so worth it!

I smoked 1/2 a pack to a whole pack a day before I knew I was pg with dd. Once I got pregnant, but before I knew I was pregnant, the cigs were just gross to me, so I cut way back to 5 or so a day. Once I found out I was pg, I threw the rest of my cigs away, and so did dh. He relapsed once when I was 3 months or so along, but it was only one cig, and he never did it again. I have been smoke free for almost a year and a half, and dh has been for about a year counting that stray cig. Anyway, the point is, quitting is the best thing you can possibly do for your child. I never picked it back up because I would just be devastated if I ever had to tell my children that I am dying from cancer. They need me here, so I replaced my habit with de-caf star-bucks! I chewed gum when I got a craving for cigs though, since it was really an oral fixation for me. Chewing just regular gum really helps to distract you. I would suggest that you start smoking half cigs instead of whole ones. if you smoke 5 half cigs a day, then you are still smoking 5 times, but your intake is less, then start reducing the number of halves you smoke every other day or so, then you can ween off and not put your baby into withdraw mode. Remember, the sooner you quit, the better the chances your baby has. How would you really feel if your baby had a bunch of medical problems from this? Sure it's hard, but it will be much harder to watch your child suffer for the rest of their life!

I also quit smoking the day my pregnancy test came back positive, I smoked a little less than a pack a day for 10 years. It was not easy and i was a major b**** for weeks but it was the second best thing I've ever done for myself. I look back at all that time I smoked and I feel so selfish for harming my body that way. I hope you can quit for your health and the health of your unborn baby who does not have a choice but to injest all those chemicals. I agree it is time for a new doctor, smoking really is that bad for a baby, give your little one the best chance of good health.

LollyM- you have such good reasoning. I have to watch my mom slowly kill herself (she has emphyzema, one lung and STILL smokes!). I hate it. I made a promise to myself that my kids would never have to see me like that. I'm not putting down people who do smoke...it's obviously very addictive, and a personal choice, and I wish DH would stop altogether...but he falls back into it every now and then. Anyhow..I think you gave great advice LollyM...

I would never purposely make somebody feel guilty for their personal choices, and can't judge you because I too battled an addiction during my pregnancy, tho not cigarettes. I was a type 2 diabetic before getting pregnant and was placed on a VERY strict diet from day 1, which I struggled with my entire pregnancy and never fully stuck to altho I can honestly say I tried my hardest. Anyways, I will only state what I know - I think that your dr is a little bit off. There is proof that smoking is, in fact, unhealthy for your unborn child. Check your cigarette packaging! My own mother smoked through her entire pregnancy with my sister tho she did not with me and my brother. Myself and my brother were extraordinarily healthy 9 pounders with (as my mother would put it) "iron stomachs" and were both very advanced developmentally. My sister on the other hand, was hardly 7 pounds, had breathing difficulties, and severe colic (well this is what they called it 17 years ago anyways). A friend of mine just recently had her baby girl at 34 weeks - needless to say, her baby is TINY, cannot leave the hospital, etc etc (friend planned to quit smoking when she learned she was pregnant but never could.) So, IMO, the facts are everywhere. All you can do is try your hardest tho & know that anything is possible (especially what a mother is able to do for her children.)

You should really quit. When I worked in social work, I saw most of the mothers smoke while pregnant. Their babies always came early, small, w/ asthma, chronic ear infections, the list literally goes on. Two babies were born so early, they pa__sed. While I feel that you should quit cold turkey, I have heard of Doc's saying to "wean" yourself off the nicotine, but to NEVER continue to smoke and that just a few will be okay. Shame on your doc. Just imagine your baby sitting inside your belly with its poor little utero home full of smoke...yuk! There are so many things that can go wrong with a healthy pregnancy, why add to all of it with cigarettes. YOU CAN QUIT!!! Learn to sacrifice now, you have to learn at some point when you become a mother. Good Luck!