Smoke free mum-to-be encourages others to use service ahead of no-smoking day

First time mum-to-be, Brooke Leeming, has quit smoking with the support of the Jessop Wing hospital stop-smoking service and is now encouraging other future mums to join her ahead of national No Smoking Day on March 11th.

Brooke, 25, from High Green, has now been smoke free for 90 days after finding out she was pregnant gave her the determination to quit smoking for good.

After smoking 15 - 20 cigarettes a day for 10 years, Brooke has been supported on her challenging journey to quit by the Jessop Wing hospital, which is part of Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Brooke said: “I cannot thank the service enough. My stop-smoking midwife is absolutely fantastic, she discussed all the different stop smoking methods with me to find which would suit me most, we decided on nicotine replacement therapy and then she visited me every week at first and then every two weeks after that. I can genuinely, hand on heart say I couldn’t have stopped without her.”

Jane Grice, Specialist stop smoking midwife at Jessops Wing said: “Smoking during pregnancy can cause a greater risk of miscarriage and stillbirth and the baby is more likely to be born prematurely and with a low birth weight. Smoking both during and after pregnancy increases the risk of cot death, if either parent smokes. However if a pregnant woman stops smoking her and her baby would get the benefits immediately. The carbon monoxide and other chemicals quickly leave your body. It means there’s more oxygen in your blood, making you and your baby much healthier.”

Brooke, who is expecting a baby girl in July, said: “ I would definitely encourage other mums-to-be to give up smoking, and my advice would be to speak to your midwife and get help. Stopping smoking sounds really hard but with the help of this service you can do it and it’s so worth it.”

National No Smoking Day (Wednesday March 11th 2015), encourages everyone to quit smoking. To find out more about quitting locally visit the Yorkshire Smokefree Sheffield website www.yorkshiresmokefree.nhs.uk or call 0800 6120011 (free from landlines) or 0330 6601166 (free from most mobiles).

 


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