Smoking and drinking

Doctors strongly recommend you give up smoking while pregnant (and beyond)
One reason is that your baby gets less oxygen if you smoke and so doesn’t grow as well
Dangerous chemicals in cigarettes also cross your placenta and can harm your baby
Babies whose mothers smoke are more likely to have a low birthweight, be premature or stillborn, have chest infections or wheezing after birth and die from cot death
Women who smoke are also more likely to have a miscarriage and problems with their placenta

Giving up smoking will have huge benefits for you and your baby no matter what stage of pregnancy you are at
Plan ahead – decide when you are going to quit and think about how you'll cope with the first few days
Save all the money you used to spend on cigarettes in a big jar and use it to splash out on nice things for you and your baby
Tell everyone you are stopping, including your partner, and ask him to consider giving up too
People who give up smoking with the help of the NHS are four times more likely to succeed
Speak to your midwife or GP about support with giving up smoking or phone the NHS Pregnancy Smoking Helpline free on 0800 169 9 169

Research shows that heavy drinking can be harmful to unborn babies
No one is sure how light social drinking affects unborn babies
To be on the safe side, health guidelines now suggest you give up drinking alcohol completely during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and stick to no more than one or two units once or twice a week for the rest
Other guidelines, meanwhile, recommend not drinking at all during your pregnancy or while you are trying to get pregnant
The choice is yours, but do err on the side of caution
For more advice on drinking in pregnancy go to drinkaware.co.uk