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Smoking - how you can help your pregnant partner to give up smoking

What's it got to do with me?

Some people prefer to stop smoking without any help at all. But many others do rely on support and encouragement from their partners, friends and family.

There are a number of ways you can be supportive:

• Ask your partner what help she would like you to give. She may not need any!

• Try to recognise situations when your partner might be feeling more anxious and more likely to reach for a cigarette eg after a visit to the doctor, social occasions

If folk dropped by the house I always asked them to smoke outside…they understood why

• Think of distractions for when your partner feels tempted to smoke - plan ahead

He’d drag me out for a walk any time I thought about having a fag. I got so fit!

• Actively help your partner to break routines which she associates with smoking eg the first cup of tea in the morning - suggest juice instead. Changing one habit will make it easier to break the other

• If you go out for a meal, try sitting in the non-smoking area

• Help boost your partner’s confidence in being able to stop smoking

I needed that back-up all the time, until I was free of it altogether

Try to be patient and encouraging. There will be times when your partner will feel tired and tempted to give in

I did a bit of nagging which wasn’t much help to her at the time ‘cos I was smoking, but then I stopped.

• Keep supporting your partner even after she has stopped. It’s easy to slip back into old habits

• If you smoke try not to smoke in front of our partner

I tried not to smoke around her. It was too much of a temptation for her…and it was the passive smoking thing.