Information for Health Visitors
Protecting children/families from secondhand smoke.


Most tobacco smoke (85%) comes directly from the lit end of the cigarette – this is unfiltered – this is the most toxic sort (side-stream smoke).

It is dangerous to breathe in this smoke - particularly bad for babies and children to breathe as their bodies are still developing and very sensitive and susceptible to the effects.

Pregnant women exposed to tobacco smoke can pass on the harmful chemicals to their babies.

Parents/carers from less affluent homes are more likely to smoke.
 
General facts
- Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals
- This includes over 69 cancer-causing chemicals
- 85% is invisible – fanning the smoke away is pointless
- Secondhand smoke lingers for 2.5 hours, even with the window open.
- Secondhand smoke is harmful to health
- A smoky atmosphere can give people sore eyes, start coughing or feel sick

95% of deaths associated with secondhand smoke are from exposure in the home
Risk of lung cancer up by 24%
Risk of heart disease up by 25%
(Source: Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health)

Toxic chemicals from the smoke can be brought into the house on clothes, dust and on a smoker’s breath.
(Source: Department of Health)

Medical research has shown that children who live in a smoky atmosphere:

- 5 times more likely to suffer a cot death
- Twice as likely to suffer asthma attacks, chest infections and breathing difficulties.
- Are more likely to be admitted to hospital
- Have a greater chance of getting ‘glue ear’ which can lead to partial deafness
- Get more coughs and colds
- Are off sick more often from school
- Paternal smoking can result in lighter babies.
- More than 17,000 children under the age of 5 are admitted to hospital every year because of respiratory illness caused by passive smoking
 
Protecting children from harm
- Always keep your home and car smoke free - Keep children’s play, sleep and eating areas completely smoke free
- Ask visitors to smoke outside and away from the children
- Never smoke in the car with your children - ask visitors to smoke before they get into your car
- Burning cigarettes injure many children’s faces and eyes each year
- Never leave cigarettes or matches unattended or in reach of children
- Smoker households run a higher risk of fire
 
Smoking in Pregnancy
Linked to:

- Poor health of mother, miscarriage – increased rate by 27%, bleeding, nausea
- Poor health of baby, premature birth, still birth, cot death and breathing problems in first 6 months.
- Placenta praevia & placental abruption is more common
- Smoking in 2nd & 3rd trimester is main cause of low birth weight = lighter by an average of 200g, more pronounced in older mothers 310g
- Smoking effects the intelligence of the child – as smaller head circumference at birth implies poor brain growth in utero.
 
The positive messages
Smoke free mothers..

- Have less morning sickness
- Have fewer complications during pregnancy and birth
- Have a more content baby after birth
- Do not need to keep leaving their babies to have a cigarette
- Are more relaxed
- Produce up to 2 cups more breast milk
- Live in clean ‘sweet’ smelling houses
- Have a longer and healthier life with fewer wrinkles!
- Do not have the guilt feelings and have to make excuses for why they are putting their babies at risk
- Suffer less menstrual problems
- Have more money to buy treats for the family


Smoke free babies..

- Less likely to develop colic, be irritable or hyperactive, or suffer from meningitis, hearing loss, asthma or childhood cancer.
- Be less likely to mimic a parent smoking, be obese, or develop behavioural problems.
- It should not be forgotten – children who live with smokers are more likely to take up smoking themselves.


Some physiological effects:

- Carbon monoxide and Nicotine have detrimental effects on the foetus.
- Carbon monoxide is colourless, odourless gas – high affinity with haemoglobin.
- This affinity is 200 times greater than that of oxygen = displaces oxygen from the binding sites on the haemoglobin leading to a reduction in the available oxygen to the tissues.
- It has the ability to cross the placenta and bind with the haemoglobin in both the mother and the foetus producing carboxyhaemoglobin.

Nicotine is a colourless oily compound and is the addictive drug contained in tobacco. It causes vasoconstriction of the blood vessels leading to a decrease in uterine blood flow.
(The Health promotion Partnership 2002)


Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) during pregnancy

If a pregnant women is finding it difficult to give up smoking then taking a short course of NRT is safer than continuing to smoke, because, unlike cigarettes, NRT does not contain tar, carbon monoxide, poisons or cause cancer.
(National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence Guidelines 2002)

It is important the mother talks this through with an NHS Stop Smoking Adviser, pharmacist or health professional trained in smoking cessation advice.

- NRT can be bought from pharmacists, shops or be on prescription.
- NRT is currently available free from the NHS stop smoking service for those who are exempt from prescription charges.

Pregnant women or parents of young children who have problems accessing clinics run by the Stop Smoking service can be visited in their own home by a trained NHS Stop Smoking Adviser.

Bucks Stop Smoking Service – 0845 270 7222
NHS pregnancy smoking helpline - 0800 169 9 169