Planning a pregnancy (Preconception)
If you are a smoker and planning to have a baby, the best thing you can do is stop smoking before trying to get pregnant.
Stopping smoking improves the lining of the womb and increases your chance of becoming pregnant. People who smoke are twice as likely to experience infertility as non-smokers. This applies whether you are trying for your first pregnancy or have been pregnant before.
Smoking can also affect the success rates of fertility treatment, such as IVF (In vitro fertilisation).
The good news is that women who stop smoking do not take longer to become pregnant than women who have never smoked. Try to stop at least four months before becoming pregnant. However, stopping at any time can improve your health and your baby’s health.
During Pregnancy
Stopping smoking is one of the best ways to give your baby a healthy start in life.
If you stop smoking before the 15th week of pregnancy, you may reduce the risk of premature birth and having a baby that is smaller than expected for their stage of development.
Every cigarette contains more than 4,000 chemicals. Smoking during pregnancy can harm your unborn baby. Cigarettes reduce the amount of oxygen your baby receives. As a result, your baby’s heart must work harder.
It is estimated that each puff of a cigarette reduces your baby’s oxygen supply for about two seconds. Oxygen is essential for growth and development.
Partners, family members and second-hand smoke
Partners and family members can play an important role in helping someone stop smoking.
It is often easier to quit when the people around you do not smoke. Second-hand smoke can also harm both the pregnant person and their baby before and after birth.
Second-hand smoke, sometimes called passive smoke, is smoke from other people’s cigarettes. When you smoke, you put your own health and the health of those around you at risk. Most second-hand smoke comes from the burning end of a cigarette. This means you cannot fully protect others by blowing smoke away from them.
If you smoke in one room of your home, harmful chemicals can spread throughout the property and remain in the air for up to five hours. Smoking in a car exposes passengers to high levels of harmful chemicals. Smoking in enclosed public places became illegal in England in 2007. Smoking in a car carrying children became illegal in England in 2015.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
You can learn about available stop smoking treatments on our stop smoking medications and treatments page.
Vapes and e-cigarettes during pregnancy
Current evidence shows that e-cigarettes and vapes are much less harmful than smoking cigarettes and can help people stop smoking. However, only use e-liquids that meet UK regulations and have approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Do not use homemade or illegal vaping products.
Many women have used e-cigarettes and vapes to help them stop smoking during pregnancy.
Smokefree Families can also support you to stop vaping or to stop using nicotine replacement therapy or other nicotine products when you are ready.
Book an Appointment
If you would like support to stop smoking, complete the booking form below.
We will contact you to discuss the support available and help you find an option that works for you.