Is Smoking Around Children Child Abuse?

This is a very difficult subject, yet one that I feel very strongly about. I cannot emphasize to my readers and to my patients on how dangerous smoking is for their own health. Studies have shown that it is even more dangerous to smoke around others. For those who cannot fight back, our children, I feel the need to speak out. There are many times when I ask one of my patients who is having difficulty breathing if they still smoke. (Smokers lungs have a definite way that they sound) When they tell me that they have never smoked, I am surprised, then I am appalled when they tell me that their parents smoked or their spouse smoked.
The damage that smoking causes to the lungs is irrefutable. The damage that a smoker can cause to their children's lungs is absolutely terrible. If we could see the damage on the outside that the smoking is causing on the inside, I believe that parents all over would either quit smoking, or be arrested for child abuse charges.

One of my good friend's husband used to smoke around his daughter...she has cystic fibrosis. I told her many times to call the police for child endangerment. She finally divorced him, one of the reasons being, that he loved his cigarettes more than he loved his children. I couldn't agree more.

There is a new drug out called Chantix. Several of my chain smoking friends who are RN's and RRT's have quit smoking with this drug. To quit smoking, the number one thing is that you have to want to quit smoking.

It is my belief that smoking around children hurts them. Therefore, it is my belief that smoking around children is indeed child abuse.

Harmful Effects of Smoking During Pregnancy

I don't care if my child has asthma. I don't care if my child develops slower than other children. I don't care if my child is under weight. What kind of Mother says this about her children....a woman who smokes when pregnant. Yes, that is right. Babies are born underweight when a Mother smokes. Babies have a tendency to have more respiratory problems than those who have Mom's who don't smoke. Those who smoke, well, there is a higher percentage of SIDS deaths among babies who have Mothers that smoke.

Carbon Monoxide attaches to the hemoglobin in the blood 200 times more than does Oxygen. So instead of sending oxygen enriched blood to your baby, you are sending poison through your blood, through the umbilical cord, to your little baby. Yes, there is carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke.





There are other toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke including the following:
nicotine, tar formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, fungicides and pesticides, cadmium, benzene, etc...

This is a very small and partial list of the poisons and carcinogens (cancer causing) that you are passing through your blood stream to your baby who doesn't have the choice not to smoke.

When I see a car with the windows up and people smoking and their are children inside, I have wanted to call and report the child abuse.

Love your child. Love the unborn baby inside you more than you love the very addicting cigarettes. Give your child a chance to live, to love, and to breathe. I do not exaggerate on the consequences of smoking.

Be a good, kind, and loving Mother. Please...for the love and protection of your baby....quit.