If you are pregnant and still smoking, you may be wondering if you should go cold turkey on smoking during your pregnancy. You probably already know that smoking is bad for you and can be dangerous to your baby’s health, but what is the best way to go about quitting during this important time? If you can successfully quit with the cold turkey method, then this is probably the best choice, but here are some additional things to keep in mind as you take on this challenge:

2 Reasons Why You Need to Quit

Before deciding how to quit, you need to commit to this decision. Smoking is dangerous to your health, but it is also potentially harmful to your child as well. Mothers who smoke are at a greater risk of stillbirths, premature birth, miscarriage, and infants with lower birth weight. As soon as you stop smoking, the chances of all of these complications decrease. This is why it is incredibly important to make the decision to quit and to do it as soon as possible.

Once you have decided that you are going to quit smoking for your health and that of your growing baby, the next decision is how to go about quitting. Here are some of the pros and cons of three common methods: cold turkey, medication, and nicotine replacement therapies such as gum or patches.

• Cold turkey. Quitting entirely is the best choice if you feel that you can do this effectively. However, it is often hard for people to quit successfully using this method, which is why they try others. The only time you definitely should not quit cold turkey is if you are a very heavy smoker and the symptoms of withdrawal will be so bad that they will put you in danger.
• Medications. Popular medications such as Zyban and Chantix increase the success rate of attempts at quitting but they may have potentially dangerous side effects for your developing infant. Speak to your doctor before trying this method.
• Nicotine replacement therapies (the patch or gum). These methods are less than desirable because they involve nicotine in the body, which mean that the baby is still exposed to the dangerous toxin.

The bottom line for mothers who are smokers is that if you can quit cold turkey, do it, and do it today! Both you and your baby will be better off when you stop smoking.

Make good decisions with Luna Lullaby