Keep Baby Safe from Secondhand Smoke

Do you know that breathing even a little secondhand smoke can be harmful to your unborn child?

What is Secondhand smoke?

It is the smoke that is comes from tobacco products which is released into the environment by smokers, and unintentionally inhaled by nonsmokers.

What so bad about it ?

The American Cancer Society[1] reports that secondhand tobacco smoke contains 7000 chemicals, with 250 or more being harmful, and at least 69 are known to cause cancer. Nonsmokers who inhale the secondhand smoke, also inhale the nicotine and toxic chemicals.

Effects on the Pregnancy and Secondhand smoke

Exposure to secondhand smoke may have the following negative effects on your unborn baby, as reported by the Surgeon General[2] in the US:

•  Increases the chances of your baby being a low-weight baby
•  Increases the incidence of respiratory problems in your baby such as pneumonia and bronchitis
• Increases the risk of the baby having weaker lungs
• Increases the risk of the baby developing bronchitis and pneumonia
• Increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death (SIDS) in the baby’s first year

Protect your Baby

• Make your home and car smoke-free zones. If you have family members at home who are smokers, seek their understanding and request that they smoke in the balcony or outside the home.
• Avoid places where there would be smokers. For example, sitting at the in-door area of a restaurant, rather at the al fresco dining area where there would more likely to be smokers.

Hooray for Singapore's Anti-Smoking Laws. Know your rights as a non-smoker, Mums-to-be!
We should be thankful that in Singapore there are many place where smoking is prohibited by law. Besides the interior of malls and public buildings, did you know that in the following places, smoking is not allowed:

• Bus Interchanges , Bus shelters and within 5m radius of bus shelters
• Any common area of any residential premises or building, including void decks, common corridors, staircases & stairwells
• Enclosed common areas of offices, e.g. corridors, lobbies, stairwells
• Any area within 5 m of any entrance/exit/window/ventilation intake of a buildings
• Covered drop-off or pick-up points

See the 2013 updated list of places in Singapore where smoking is banned on the National Environmental Agency (NEA) Website

So pregnant mums, know your rights to a smoke free environment.  The NEA has Guidelines on handling errant smokers,some parts of which I found to be quite amusing. For example: "The manager/operator should speak to the person(The errant smoker) 
privately in a polite way (talk in a soft tone or whisper into his ear)."  Hmmm.

To report errant smokers, do inform the building management, or for  public places where there is no management , call NEA at 1800-CALL-NEA (1800 225 5632) to file a report.

Lets be empowered to know that we can take steps to protect our baby from secondhand smoke.

 [1] American Cancer Society Website

 [2]  Public Resource "Secondhand Smoke: What it means to you"  by the Surgeon General (US)