# I'm Pregnant, Give me A Cigarette **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 15, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519 "2006-10-15T13:39:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/1 "2006-10-15T13:39:18Z")
I have no idea if this is true. I was wandering around the net and outside of a frame was an ad for some other forum or whatever promoting their latest exciting topics. I was so alarmed that I did not click on the link. \*\*I Pregnant, Give me A Cigarette \*\* _Teenage Girls are Smoking to Have Smaller Babies_ Freaking wonderful. Even if it is not true generally, I bet some bonehead has tried this. Even if it is not true at all, I am upset that I would not be overly surprised if it were true. I am seeing a \*Married With Children \* scenario: Girl: Mom, I’m knocked up, what should I do? Mom: Honey if you start smoking now, the baby will be smaller and easier to deliver. That’s what I did with you. Girl: That explains a lot. I swear, the news lately is enough to make you want in your union card for humanity. Just a rant, that is all. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/2 "2006-10-15T13:53:53Z")
Didn’t some tobacco executive once try to spin the low birth weight into good thing, regarding easier births? This was some years ago. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/3 "2006-10-15T14:11:40Z")
But if it makes them _feel_ good, why not? [/sarcasm] ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/4 "2006-10-15T15:10:28Z")
I remember this story on the BBC about two weeks ago, and its all hype. There is a huge push to try get pregnant smokers to stop, a study in Glagow showed that women still had a great deal of trouble quitting, even though they had as much incentive to do so as any other time in their lives. The story about the so-called ‘smoking to reduce birthweight’ was simply a rubbish interpretation of the facts and then was blown out of all proportion. The BBC interviewed a midwife, she was in charge of all of the midwives in one particualr district, and she was very much more circumspect, in fact, she did not discuss this claim directly at all, preferring to keep to the message that quitting smoking was a good thing, and smoking whilts pregnant was a bad thing. It was just a slow news day, thats all. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/5 "2006-10-15T15:32:27Z")
[QUOTE=casdave] I remember this story on the BBC about two weeks ago, and its all hype. [/QUOTE] Here’s a [link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5405194.stm) to a web version, and it certainly is a pretty fucking thin story. All the “evidence” provided in the story consists of the assertions of a Labour government minister based on the claim that she… > [@](#): > > had heard about the issue anecdotally from health professionals, and from young women she had met. So we have a bunch of hearsay and rumour, with no attempt at quantification. I’m not arguing that it’s never happened, but for all we know it could be a couple of dozen very unusual cases. There’s certainly no evidence in the story of some massive smoking-for-reduced-birthweight crisis. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/6 "2006-10-15T15:41:15Z")
I burning your fetus? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/7 "2006-10-15T15:48:36Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] I burning your fetus? [/QUOTE] I swear, my ability to type or to write (or perhaps to think) is sliding downhill fast. I blame Ramadan. Yep, I screwed up the OP, sorry. Thanks to both **mhendo** and **casdave** for the information. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/8 "2006-10-15T15:57:51Z")
it’s my fault, sorry. 23 years ago I quit smoking 'cause I was pregnan. a little over 22 years ago I gave birth to a 10 lb, 12 oz baby. Some one must have overheard me joking that I should have smoked for a few more months. sorry 'bout that. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/9 "2006-10-15T16:21:08Z")
It is interesting to track an Urban Legend back to its source. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/10 "2006-10-15T16:22:12Z")
:d ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/11 "2006-10-15T17:38:41Z")
My mom’s (male) OB/GYN told her in late 1966/early 1967 that she should smoke instead of snacking, so she wouldn’t gain so much weight! :eek: He was only allowing her 15 pounds or so, because she was so skinny to begin with. Retard. I would have thought that by now, people would know better. This is right up there with some stupid 'net story I read about high society types scheduling their c-sections at 8 months to avoid that last month of weight gain! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/12 "2006-10-15T23:19:00Z")
Of course, there’s always [this lovely woman](http://www.snopes.com/photos/signs/pregnant.asp). ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pregnant-give-me-a-cigarette/376519/13 "2006-10-16T00:13:37Z")
First of all, [ul] [li]I acknowledge that the dangers of smoking during pregnancy are real.[/li][li]I agree that pregnant women should be encouraged to stop smoking.[/li][li]I am dismayed when I see a pregnant woman ignoring the many warnings about smoking while pregnant.[/li][li]I believe everything that can be done to assure a healthy pregnancy should be done.[/li][/ul] That said, there is always so much intense furor about smoking during pregnancy despite the fact that, for those of us over 30, if our mother smoked before pregnancy then she surely smoked during pregnancy as well. Compare the number of us who turned out O.K. with the number of us who did not. Certainly, simple precautions should be taken but the whole “Oh, my God! Can you _believe_ that!?!?!?” thing is a little overdone. \*note that the whole purposely smoking to acheive low birthweight silliness has already been debunked. It’s not that silly assertion that I am responding to.