This Quit For Baby blog is for pregnant women and new mothers who want to quit smoking.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Harm Reduction and dealing with Feelings and Cravings
As you withdraw from nicotine by smoking fewer cigarettes, or stopping smoking, you may experience some intense feelings that are associated with nicotine withdrawal. They can include cravings for a cigarette, anxiety, anger and irritability, less energy and sadness. Many people can't concentrate, are easily frustrated and may eat more food when they want a cigarette. Some people find it helps them to know it won't last long. Changing routines, drinking water and physical activity usually helps. Taking deep breaths and doing relaxation routines can help. These difficult times will pass and can be endured.
There are also times and specific activities that your brain associates with smoking which will trigger a desire to smoke. These might include morning coffee, drinking alcohol, driving your car, after eating, or when feeling scared, lonely, stressed, or bored. It helps to plan how you might change your routine or activity which will change the trigger. Physical activity like walking, biking or swimming helps change the brain chemistry which can improve your mind set and help get you through these difficult times.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I'll be back
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Harm Reduction
Harm Reduction
We know that when mom smokes it is very hard on an unborn child and on babies exposed to second hand smoke. There are poisonous chemicals, in tobacco smoke and those are released into the pregnant mom’s blood stream and the unborn child is exposed to them. Children who are around 2nd hand smoke are also exposed. The unborn child’s oxygen level is also limited by the carbon monoxide found in cigarette smoke, which causes less oxygen to be available to the developing child. The nature of addiction makes quitting or reducing the cigarettes smoked very difficult, but definitely worth the effort!
What can mom’s do who aren’t ready to quit but want to limit the harmful effects on their babies? There is a process called harm reduction, which is cutting down on the cigarettes smoked so you can reduce the harm caused by smoking on your baby.
There are many things to do that will help you limit your smoking. A smoking log is a good way to begin. A smoking log is a small card where you write down each cigarette you smoke, the Time, the Need, (S-strong, M-moderate, or L-light), your Mood (how you are feeling at the time), and the Activity (what you were doing at the time).
No. Time Need Mood Activity
______1__ 8:00___AM___ M__ relaxed coffee
______2 __10:30__ AM___ S__ stressed break
______3 __12:00__PM____L___content lunch break
With the Mood and Activity categories you can learn what your triggers for smoking are. Many women have been able to learn how to cope with stress, anger or sadness in a way that is not smoking. This might be through breathing exercises, physical activity or changing a routine so that your brain doesn’t associate smoking with the activity. The smoking log can teach us a lot about the role that cigarettes play in our lives, and by learning about that we are better able to limit and decide where we can eliminate a cigarette here and there throughout the day. Each time you don’t smoke a cigarette you are contributing to the health of your child.
I hope this will help you eliminate some cigarettes from your day. It is what we sometimes call harm reduction because though you aren’t quitting you are definitely making decisions about smoking that will improve the quality of life of your child. Each time you decide not to smoke a cigarette you are finding the strength within yourself to overcome part of the powerful force of addiction in your life. I hope you will recognize the strength you have from within to combat this difficult addiction.