Not looking for medical advice, but general advice

Carrigart Exile

My brother in law and his partner had displayed a level of responsibility towards their yet to be born baby which left me staggered. She kept smoking (including #) and drinking during the pregnancy and went two weeks early. The baby was just over 6.5 lbs (3kgs) and has been kept in hospital for at least a week. The wee mite seemed to have tremors and has now been treated with two different types of antibiotics. My wife is incandescent with rage and I am trying to calm her but i strongly suspect she is correct when she assumes their 'during pregnancy' lifestyle was to blame for the child's current ills.

My question, does anyone know what effect, if any, smoking # throughout the pregnancy would have on the baby?

January

http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2227.html

google "effects of smoking hash while pregnant"

nesf

What age are they? It's not uncommon for women to smoke during pregnancy, unfortunately, and it does lead to lower birth weight etc but your wife could be blaming the wrong thing. The whole smoking hash and cigarettes during pregnancy thing is wrong, irrespective of whether it is the ultimate cause of the low birth weight etc.

Carrigart Exile

adrieanne__x wrote: »

http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2227.html

google "effects of smoking hash while pregnant"

thanks

Carrigart Exile

nesf wrote: »

What age are they? It's not uncommon for women to smoke during pregnancy, unfortunately, and it does lead to lower birth weight etc but your wife could be blaming the wrong thing. The whole smoking hash and cigarettes during pregnancy thing is wrong, irrespective of whether it is the ultimate cause of the low birth weight etc.

I have told her to bite her tongue, sadly she has a Phd is knee Jerk reacting.

Oh the new parents are late 20s

nesf

Carrigart Exile wrote: »

I have told her to bite her tongue, sadly she has a Phd is knee Jerk reacting.

Oh the new parents are late 20s

Yeah, well honestly, regardless how good her reasons are, the kids just been born and is in hospital, the parents will be under enough stress with that without an angry sister-in-law to deal with. I'd advise her to bite her tongue until later and watch to see if they cop on a bit.

There's nothing like sleep deprivation from a kid to bring a large dose of reality into people's lives.

embee

Carrigart Exile wrote: »

My brother in law and his partner had displayed a level of responsibility towards their yet to be born baby which left me staggered. She kept smoking (including #) and drinking during the pregnancy and went two weeks early. The baby was just over 6.5 lbs (3kgs) and has been kept in hospital for at least a week. The wee mite seemed to have tremors and has now been treated with two different types of antibiotics. My wife is incandescent with rage and I am trying to calm her but i strongly suspect she is correct when she assumes their 'during pregnancy' lifestyle was to blame for the child's current ills.

My question, does anyone know what effect, if any, smoking # throughout the pregnancy would have on the baby?

I'd tell your wife to stay well out of this situation, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, whilst it is never a good idea to smoke or drink during pregnancy, the pregnant woman would have done so knowing the risks she was taking. Every midwife in the country will advise women to stop drinking and smoking and drug taking of any kind during pregnancy. She would also have advised them of the dangers of continuing to do so. If the pregnant woman knew all of this (and she had to have known, there is no way that she'd not have been given this information), then she made a choice. Perhaps a bad choice, but a choice nonetheless, and herself and her partner will deal with any consequences of the choices that were made during pregnancy.

Secondly, you named some things that were "wrong" with the baby. Arriving 2 weeks early isn't that unusual (just as arriving 2 weeks late isn't unusual either and doesn't indicate good/bad choices taken during pregnancy). Very few babies arrive on their due date. It happens in a lot of pregnancies where the mother has done everything she could to maintain a healthy pregnancy. A 38 week arrival is considered "term". 6 and a half pounds for a 38 week baby isn't small - the average size of a newborn at 40 weeks is about 7lb. In the last 6 weeks of pregnancy, babies gain around a half a pound a week, so at 38 weeks a 6.5lb baby isn't small at all. You said also the baby had tremors - that could be down to anything at all. The baby could have a neurological problem completely unrelated to any drink or drug taking. May have had low blood sugars. The antibiotics - baby could have contracted Group B Strep (which around 1 in 4 women carry). The umbilical site may have gotten infected... it could be anything. His hospital stay for a week could have been for any number of reasons... did the Mum have a section? Was the baby jaundiced? Had he lost too much weight post-delivery? If he had some sort of infection (he must have had, or he wouldn't have been given anti-biotics) then they wouldn't have discharged him.

What I'm saying here is that your wife isn't a doctor (I presume), and she's flying off the handle about a set of circumstances that aren't really there (and are none of her business). Obviously, its annoying to hear someone had smoked or drunk throughout the pregnancy, and she's going to be anxious that the baby is okay, but there isn't any actual proof here that the baby has been affected by the mothers smoking and drinking. The woman in question surely knows deep down that she's lucky her baby is healthy (presuming he is). If your wife were to go in all guns blazing, only to find out that the baby was perfectly healthy.... well, it would go down like the proverbial lead balloon.

dewsbury

let's all relax..

Until the last 20 years or so most of our mothers drank a bit and smoked a lot. None of us wore seat belts and some had more than 2 pints before driving.


We all survived & thrived.

embee

dewsbury wrote: »

let's all relax..

Until the last 20 years or so most of our mothers drank a bit and smoked a lot. None of us wore seat belts and some had more than 2 pints before driving.


We all survived & thrived.

dewsbury,

20 years ago women smoked and drank during pregnancy because not that much was known about the possible side effects or harm that they could cause the developing fetus. Things are different now, and its only proper order that women are discouraged in the strongest possible terms from smoking and drinking during pregnancy. 20 years ago, people were drink driving. And killing other people on the roads.

The ignorance of 20 years ago is not an excuse to carry on with dangerous activity in these more enlightened times.

Peared

Whether or not there is a direct link between her behaviour and the problems now is debatable. But her behaviour and disregard for the unborn child would give me cause for concern about her regard for the child now.

Drives me mad hearing about and seeing women behave like idiots and take their pregnancy for granted when there are people out there who would do anything to be able to have a child in the first place.

Carrigart Exile

embee wrote: »

I'd tell your wife to stay well out of this situation, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, whilst it is never a good idea to smoke or drink during pregnancy, the pregnant woman would have done so knowing the risks she was taking. Every midwife in the country will advise women to stop drinking and smoking and drug taking of any kind during pregnancy. She would also have advised them of the dangers of continuing to do so. If the pregnant woman knew all of this (and she had to have known, there is no way that she'd not have been given this information), then she made a choice. Perhaps a bad choice, but a choice nonetheless, and herself and her partner will deal with any consequences of the choices that were made during pregnancy.

Secondly, you named some things that were "wrong" with the baby. Arriving 2 weeks early isn't that unusual (just as arriving 2 weeks late isn't unusual either and doesn't indicate good/bad choices taken during pregnancy). Very few babies arrive on their due date. It happens in a lot of pregnancies where the mother has done everything she could to maintain a healthy pregnancy. A 38 week arrival is considered "term". 6 and a half pounds for a 38 week baby isn't small - the average size of a newborn at 40 weeks is about 7lb. In the last 6 weeks of pregnancy, babies gain around a half a pound a week, so at 38 weeks a 6.5lb baby isn't small at all. You said also the baby had tremors - that could be down to anything at all. The baby could have a neurological problem completely unrelated to any drink or drug taking. May have had low blood sugars. The antibiotics - baby could have contracted Group B Strep (which around 1 in 4 women carry). The umbilical site may have gotten infected... it could be anything. His hospital stay for a week could have been for any number of reasons... did the Mum have a section? Was the baby jaundiced? Had he lost too much weight post-delivery? If he had some sort of infection (he must have had, or he wouldn't have been given anti-biotics) then they wouldn't have discharged him. My daughter was slow to produce a bowel movement post-delivery (took 3 days), and I wasn't allowed to leave until she had.

What I'm saying here is that your wife isn't a doctor (I presume), and she's flying off the handle about a set of circumstances that aren't really there (and are none of her business). Obviously, its annoying to hear someone had smoked or drunk throughout the pregnancy, and she's going to be anxious that the baby is okay, but there isn't any actual proof here that the baby has been affected by the mothers smoking and drinking. The woman in question surely knows deep down that she's lucky her baby is healthy (presuming he is). If your wife were to go in all guns blazing, only to find out that the baby was perfectly healthy.... well, it would go down like the proverbial lead balloon.

Thank you and this mirrors much of my own thoughts and some of what i have said to my wife. My wife is not a doctor but she works at the coal face with people with drug and alcohol dependancies and I have no doubt this has helped formulate her own views. I also strongly suspect deep down the new parents know they may have made a mistake, she is certainly talking now of giving up smoking.

Carrigart Exile

Peared wrote: »

Whether or not there is a direct link between her behaviour and the problems now is debatable. But her behaviour and disregard for the unborn child would give me cause for concern about her regard for the child now.

Drives me mad hearing about and seeing women behave like idiots and take their pregnancy for granted when there are people out there who would do anything to be able to have a child in the first place.

I hope, and I think they shall, heed the warning they have had.

Loopy

I understand your wife wanting to let rip but it wont achieve anything and at the end of the day it really isn't any of her business. As suggested, she will need to bite her tongue. The mother knew the risks she was taking and no doubt is now paying for it..

I don't agree with what she did but at the end of the day, it is her body, her life, her conscience..

Carrigart Exile

looptheloop wrote: »

I understand your wife wanting to let rip but it wont achieve anything and at the end of the day it really isn't any of her business. As suggested, she will need to bite her tongue. The mother knew the risks she was taking and no doubt is now paying for it..

I don't agree with what she did but at the end of the day, it is her body, her life, her conscience..

Sadly its also the babies. Anyway, as it happens baby is now over its 'virus' and home and seems a happy wee chappie.