Public health officials have made a strong impression that pregnant women should not drink or possibly harm their unborn child. Now an effort to have women cut out smoking during pregnancy is also underway.
Called "First Breath", health workers hope to get the nearly one-in-four Oneida county women who smoke while pregnant to stop.
Public health nurse and program coordinator Dawn Klink says both mother and child feel the results of smoking...
"....women who smoke during pregnancy tend to have smaller babies, and tend to have more risk factors and have less healthy babies...."
Miscarriage, still birth and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome have also been linked to smoking.
Klink says many women say smoking helps them relieve stress during pregnancy.
Klink says First Breath and other programs are offered through the Wisconsin Women's Health Foundation.
Klink says health officials provide counseling. She says while women will quit smoking during pregnancy, often the start again...
"...and also I want to encourage, if they want to quit during the pregnancy for them to stay quit after they have the baby because a large percentage of them will start smoking again after they have the baby...."
Klink says help in quitting smoking is available through local county health departments, including the Oneida County Health Department.
