Smokefree Homes
When you smoke a cigarette, roll-up, pipe, or cigar, most of the smoke doesn’t stay with you — it fills the air around you and the people you care about most end up breathing it in.
Secondhand smoke includes the smoke you breathe out and the “side stream” smoke that rises from the tip of a lit cigarette. Even if you try to be careful, such as smoking by a door or window, the smoke spreads quickly through your home where friends and family can’t avoid it.
Breathing in this smoke isn’t just unpleasant — it can seriously harm their health. People exposed to secondhand smoke regularly face a higher risk of the same life-threatening illnesses as smokers, including lung cancer and heart disease. For children, growing up in a smoky home means a higher chance of breathing problems, asthma, allergies, and more hospital visits.
Secondhand smoke harms your children
Babies and children breathe faster than adults, which means they take in more of the harmful chemicals in secondhand smoke.
They are more sensitive to smoke than adults because their bodies are young and still developing.
If you are exposed to secondhand smoke while pregnant this also means your unborn baby is being exposed.
How does smoking affect your baby?
Every cigarette you smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, so smoking when you are pregnant harms your unborn baby. Cigarettes restrict the essential oxygen supply to your baby. As a result, their heart must beat harder every time you smoke.
| Miscarriage | Low birth weight |
| Stillbirth | Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) |
| Preterm birth | Increased risk of child developing asthma |
Visit NHS stop smoking for more information about the risk of smoking while pregnant
Pregnant and want to stop smoking?
Stopping smoking as when pregnant is the best thing you can do for your baby’s health. There is lots of support available to help you become smokefree including a dedicated specialist team at your local maternity hospital who can provide personalised support to help you stop smoking including:
- free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) such as patches, inhalator and lozenges
- vape kit to help you to stop
- 12 weeks behavioural support for 12 weeks via both face to face and telephone appointments
For a referral please:
- speak to your Midwife or call 07407 817 479
- having your baby at St Michael’s Hospital or in Weston? Email: TTDMaternity@uhbw.nhs.uk
- having your baby at Southmead Hospital? Email: TTDMaternity@NBT.nhs.uk
