for the smokers or ex smokers :(

[bimbicat7]

Ok this is a contraversial topic i know and i am guilty of smoking i hate it and dont consider myself a smoker its sad!
i only ever smoked 10 a day tops and only lights, now im quitting and coz of the pregnancy cant take patches etc, anyone got any ideas on how to ease the cravings! im down to 3 ciggarets a day so im glad of that and i have them in halves, but its so hard my body doesnt want it i feel sick when i smoke but my mind says yes!!! guess its the whole addiction thing right ?
please dont judge me im trying very hard and i WILL do this just wondering if anyone else is is the same boat as me?
any suggestions would be great!
please dont critise i torture my self enough with all the thoughts :(

[jennyfer976]

I use to be a smoker as well, but for me I did invitro so I knew I had to quit before I went for the proceedure. I used the patch and the lowest dose for 2 weeks after cutting down to 3 a day then weaned off the patch. Not a big deal, patch made it soooo much easier yea the mental part sucked and yea I had the patch on a day or two during the time the eggs implanted, but I am 6 months past all that now and not ever craving a ciggy. Just excited to meet the new little baby twins growing inside me! I guess my only fear now is picking back up the habit after the twins are born, but as long as I don't start again all is good.  I know how hard it is to quit, it took me a year to finally decide to quit so we could do the invitro and it was really hard to focus. Just hang in there, I promise once you get past the first few weeks you will think of it lesss and lesss and eventually you will feel great without those cigaretts. I also suffered w/anxiety and depression before and was advised to not quit cold turkey, I am happy to report that since I quit almost all of my anxiety symptoms have subsided and I no longer suffer from depression either...amazing what good healthy habits help you do...

[Kristi_King]

I use to be a smoker and the trick is to find something fullfilling...I chewed a lot of ice when I was quiting, its distracting enough to almost take the place of smokeing.  I quit cold turkey out of fear of harm for the baby, but my girlfriend did what you are doing and said eventually and the smell of cigarettes unlit made her sick, so you may just get sick of it...literally.  Sometimes you have to suck up the anger and anxiety, but remeber if either of those get too intense that it stresses the baby as well.

[motherofan18month]

with DS i smoked around 15 cigs. a day and cut back to 3 a day until after i went in for delivery! i didn't have a cig. for 2 days, but the day we came home my cigs. were lying on the table and i instantly picked them up...and it started all over again! i was smoking 1 to 1 1/2 packs a day until i found out i was preggo 7 weeks ago, and have since cut back to 10 maybe 12 depending on if i just threw my cig.out to run in the store or something. my doc. told me not to quit cold turkey since i have slightly high blood pressure and occasional anxiety attacks, because the stress would only put the baby under stress but i have set a quit date for myself which is 2 months away! just keep doing what your doing and it will help very much! best of luck hun!!!!!!!!

[Rosa20]

i was a smoker too and quit cold turkey...not as easy as it sounds....my body was ready for it..Mind you i still crave everyday but for me its not the smoke i miss its smoking with my coffee or after i eat takeout or when i have a drink..sence your pregnant you dont have to worry about the drink but maby stay away from coffee if you drink it or the things that make you crave the most!! Good luck hun and great job on cutting back!! youll be quit before you know it!! :) :)

[alaysha]

I was a smoker and when I found out I was pregnant I knew that I had to quit cold turkey. I tried for the first day or so to cut back but knew that if I had them near I would smoke them. It was SUPER hard at first but I kept reminding myself that I was doing this for someone else and instead traded the craving for cigarettes to something else. For instance, every time I wanted to smoke I would eat a bowl of ravioli. :P

[AnitaRFrith]

I smoked years ago and I found that its more habit than any thing.  Try stopping all together.  When you feel the need to smoke eat suckers.  ( It tends to help the habit of having something in you hand.)  Thats what allot of folks do.  If they were not in the house then it would not be as hard for you.  Trust me... I know.  Its like they say... OUT OF SITE, OUT OF MIND!  Good luck hun, Anita

[jf34]

What I did was look online it tells you down to the hour about how it increases your health even in just 12 hours it helps your health and it shows you how, it will also show how it helps the baby. So what I did would count hours like wow! I've gone 1 hour without a cigarette, wow I've gone 10 hours, etc. And follow that chart that tells you what is going on in you and the baby just by not smoking in those hours. Then what I would do is everytime I craved a cigarette I would get a sucker out and suck on it until the craving went away. Because when you smoke you suck in and make that sucking motion in your face it helps sooooooooooooo much!! You can expect to have cravings as often as every 3 minutes. But the great news is I believe it said cravings only last 1-3 minutes so when you feel it suck on that sucker and distract yourself, and tell yourself I don't need it and look at your chart. I'm really surprised it worked so well!! Great job on cutting back you're doing great just go get ya a bag of suckers and they will be gone before ya know it! =)

[bimbicat7]

Thanks Joy i sure Will do it and im trying super hard just went for a 30 min walk to take my mind off it
thanks again xx

[JoyRenee]

A GREAT incentive to help you quit is to take all the money you save from not buying cigs and putting it towards baby stuff. So the less you smoke, the more money you have to put away for baby furniture or whatever you need.

Good luck! I really believe that you can do this!

[NicMom]

No judgement here. I was still smoking last time I got pregnant and I tried to quit cold turkey. Well that just didn't work for me. I found the hardest part wasn't the smoking itself, but the habit of smoking. Like everytime I got in my car to drive home I would light up. I had to distract myself. I started drinking chamomile tea to calm my nerves a bit and I would eat something at those times when I would normaly smoke. Sometimes I had carrotts or suckers anything. I think it took about 2 weeks before I could go right to sleep at night without having a real strong craving. They say the physical withdrawl is over after a few days. After that it's just a matter of breaking the habits. When I was ready I took a whole weekend off from smoking. After that I took 3 days off it was something I had to ease into. I'm happy to say that I am smoke free since July!

Good luck.

[houseofgirls]

I quit when I found out I was pregnant with my first dd.  I quit cold turkey the day I found out.  I was a smoker for over 13 years, so I know how hard it is.  For me, there was no way I could cut down.  Have you tried to just not smoke at all?  I remember they made me sick too, and the smell was awful.  I actually used to love to smoke, and more than likely wouldn't have quit if I hadn't gotten pregnant.  Now, its no big deal at all.  I still don't smoke, and I'm pregnant with my 3rd.  

You have done great by cutting down so much.  I personally think that it would be easier to just stop all together at this point.  I think the drawing it out this long makes the mental cravings even stronger.  That is just my experience though.  
Good luck!

[tiredbuthappy]

down to 3 a day is great! Just keep doing what you're doing- you're down to 3 a day, so continue to cut back on how much of each you smoke. Put it out earlier. Soon you'll be down to 2, then 1. Then none!!!

ANyways, I just wanted to say that you should be nearing the point where you won't feel sick when you take that final step and eliminate them all together. You may be feeling sick, but it'll be most likely pregnancy symptoms kicking in. Try not to confuse the 2 and kick up the number of cigarettes assuming it's the quitting that is making you feel sick.

[JoyRenee]

Cutting back was the first step and you're doing good.

I have never been a smoker but I have known other smokers. My mom was successful at quitting but I was a young child so I don't remember what she did. Some of them kept stuff around to keep their mouths busy- gum, candies, even chewing on a pen.

I also know that there are these cigarettes that do not contain nicotine or harmful chemicals and is supposed to help you wean and quit. But not sure what they're called or if they're safe. I'm sure they're more safe than the lights, though.

Good for you for wanting to quit and making a healthy home for your child! My mom smoked when she was pregnant with me and up until I was about 8 years old and it makes me very angry because I didn't have a voice to tell her, "No!" It just wasn't fair to me. So good luck and you CAN do it!