Medical researchers at the University of Calgary in Alberta theorize
that the nicotine patch may be a safer alternative for pregnant moms
who smoke and won't quit. Although tests haven't yet been performed on actual pregnant women who smoke, new preliminary research
suggests that the low birthweight and risk of other health problems
associated with babies whose mothers smoked through pregnancy may be
due to the chemical additives (read: poisons!) present in cigarettes
and not to the nicotine itself.
So what happens when questionable
science and the public's wish for there to be an easy solution to
everything mix? While this is potentially good news for babies of
mothers too caught up in their own addiction to create a healthful
growing environment for their baby-to-be, I'm afraid that even the
suggestion that there someday might be research supporting the
use of nicotine will lead smoking mothers to presume that they can just
go right ahead and smoke during pregnancy. After all, if the
patch is okay, how bad can cigarettes be?
Do I sound judgemental
here? You bet! I was a smoker when I decided to begin
trying to conceive my oldest child, and the minute I made that
decision, the cigarettes went out the window. There was no
agonizing debate; it was simply the thing to do. Thousands of
women have done the same thing. It has been said that a person
can't quit smoking unless and until they find the "right" reason to do
so, but what better reason is there than for the health of your unborn
child?
