This is what I thought, too, but then I’m not in China. Quitting or cutting down now will make it easier when it’s really important and you’ve got a kid to look after and need your wits about you (and don’t want to touch your newborn child with nicotine-stained hands). I second the nausea thing, too. Apparently tobacco can be wretched.
I have to admit, if I were pregnant and not touching alcohol I might request that whoever got me there give it up, too. No dulling the sympathy pain!
I got nuttin’ on NE China. I’ve been to Changchun (FAW VW), Shenyang (brilliancE BMW) AND dalian (assorted MNC).
Dude, as an ex smoking father, you “know” you need to give it up before the kid arrives. Your taitai will think you are an even better laogong if you do it soon. 
Ok, ok, this is going to stray into TMI a little here, but I think it might help you guys understand how my wife thinks about this.
Last weekend there were holiday parties galore. The school I teach at had TWO (jeez. one wasn’t enough? There’s a New Year’s party coming up this Thursday, too) and my wife attended one at her workplace on Friday night. After she was done with her party, she came to mine. We both drank and I smoked (though not around her).
China Guy can confirm for the non-Sinophiles in the thread that my part of China is very very VERY cold, so the wife and I spent Saturday morning snuggled under our quilt together. My mother-in-law (who lives with us) was out of the house for the morning and…well…one thing lead to another. Let’s just say it was a very memorable Boxing Day morning for the two of us, if you get my drift. My wife and I have been married for five years, we’re both healthy, and we want a family, so any unplanned pregnancy would still be good news rather than bad. Therefore we don’t use anything. Let me use some banking terms to describe this: our “transaction” involved a “deposit” and no “withdrawals,” but we’re “satisfied cutomers” with the potential outcome of that deal. Ya got me?
Afterwards, MKF said, “OMG, I forgot…we both drank last night!”
KF: “So what?”
MKF: “So it might hurt the baby. We’re supposed to go three months beforehand without drinking or smoking or else our baby will be born with problems. I’ve told you a million times.”
KF: :::rolls eyes since he’s heard that a million times and still doesn’t believe it:::
I appreciate all the ideas and input everyone had put forth in this thread, but I really don’t think it has anything to do with a test of willpower. To me it seems like she really does believe that if a man and woman drink on Monday evening then get it on on Monday night the baby will end up with horrible deformities in utero. This seems to be a somewhat widespread belief among Chinese women of childbearing age. I didn’t find any evidence to support that notion, though IANAD.
On a side note: cross your fingers that we might see a baby kidneyfailure sometime soon (and I mean that in the sense of my username, not a real baby kidney failure. That would suck)!
Let’s just say the last time I was in Shenyang, it was 10 F. brrrrrrrrrrrr
This may be just a Northeast China thing. It’s certainly not something I’ve ever heard and my Shanghaiese wife would certainly have raised this before both of her pregnancies.
I recall an article in Discover magazine several years ago that reported that the quality of a woman’s egg could be set and/or improved as long as 9 months before the egg underwent ovulation and fertilization, so women in particlar should be mindful of their health and nutrition (and take prenatal vitamins) long before conception.
(Man, I’m a geek. I found the magazine here in my house. The article was called “The Good Egg” by Stephen S. Hall, Disover, vol 25, no. 5, May 2004, and a link: http://m.discovermagazine.com/2004/may/cover/?searchterm=the%20good%20egg )
I once read that doctors recommend that any woman of childbearing age should eat, smoke and drink as though she were trying to get pregnant, which is kind of a duh for me - everyone should eat as healthfully as possible, avoid binge drinking and smoking. I think that one big reason women are encouraged to do this is that it makes it easier to maintain better habits both during and after a pregnancy.
Plus, it’s unknown exactly how much alcohol is too much during a pregnancy, but too much can result in birth defects, though as noted earlier, sometimes birth defects simply develop during a pregnancy, whether due to genes, the age of the eggs or nothing at all. A lot of the eating restrictions, in my opinion, are a bit on the silly side and were probably the result of a very small number of women getting sick from Listeria after eating deli meat, for example. But again, that’s just my opinion.
<hijack>
As for how much the father’s habits can affect his sperm, I’ve always been wildly interested in someone doing research on NFL players. It seems that every second one has a special needs child in some way - this one’s son has MS, that one’s daughter has Down Syndrome, and so on.
Not that all NFL players are steroid-addled freaks, but certainly some are. I’d be interested in seeing a study correlating how the choices they made for their sport affected their offspring, if at all.
Sorry for the hijack, kidneyfailure.
Apparently marijuana use actually does affect the sperm, too.
If you don’t mind my asking, about how old is your wife? Maybe it’s a newer thing among this current generation of young women who are turning marriage-age or childbearing-age. The wife of the friend I mentioned in OP is only about 26 and my wife is 27.
Could be. I only smoke cigarettes, though. Perhaps I should have clarified that. Also, I only drink beer, too, nothing stronger.
Maybe? china wife is 41. I don’t hear this at work with younger colleagues.
Hmmm…I hear it from older students, as well. I teach adults part-time in a night school and the students (mostly girls) are about 20-27. When I mention having a family they always come out with the “stop smoking and drinking three months before” thing, and that’s what makes me think it’s been learned somewhere along the line! That they always say “three months.” There’s never any “stop smoking two weeks before” or “stop drinking two months before.” It’s always three months, almost without fail.
Note this thread:
http://wenda.tianya.cn/wenda/thread?tid=5ff924e028c7353e
Especially the quote from the 4th answer:
要戒烟3个月
Others say “half a year.” Note that that thread is specifically asking about having a boy, though.