UK: Stop Smoking in Pregnancy team wins award

We all know that smoking is bad for general health, and that smoking during pregnancy is a big no-no. But nicotine is an addiction that is both common and difficult to kick, and quitting smoking can be extremely hard even when you are pregnant. The Stop Smoking in Pregnancy team from the UK's Jessop Wing maternity hospital knows this, and has been supporting pregnant women on their journey toward better health for them and their unborn babies. Now, their effort has been praised by the British Journal of Midwifery awards. That's right, they got an award!

Women who received help from the team to kick their nasty smoking habit said they could never have done it alone. And the Stop Smoking in Pregnancy team keeps on brainstorming, continuously coming up with new ideas to help women say goodbye to cigarettes when they are pregnant. For previous, less popular ways to help women quit smoking proposed by the UK government, look at Big Brother is watching... if you smoke while pregnant?

Consultant midwife Helen Baston said: "The team have worked tirelessly to support women, through a can-do and flexible approach to meeting their diverse needs. This dedication and effort is reflected in the outcomes they achieve and we are extremely proud of the pregnant women who have stopped smoking and the staff and partners who have supported them".

On a related note, a new study conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, found that children whose mothers smoked in pregnancy were more likely to be obese later in life. Previous studies found that babies of smokers were, on average, smaller but apparently weight is a different matter. The study looked at more than 5,000 children from the Rotterdam area, and the obesity risk appears later in life, rather than at birth. The same was not true for babies of mothers who stopped smoking early on in pregnancy. Yet another reason why the work of people like the Smoking in Pregnancy team is so important! Of course, quitting smoking before trying to get pregnant is better still.