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Day 18 of 280 · 2 weeks + 4 days

Smoke and the first weeks

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 8 sources · Plain-text version

Smoking slows a baby's growth and raises the risk of preterm birth. The best time to quit was before; the next best is now. A circle on a calendar and one person told.

Size this week
a single cell, then a ball of cells
A white man in a work jacket on a back step in gray morning light, snapping a cigarette pack shut and dropping it into an outdoor bin, his partner watching from the doorway.

If nobody in your house smokes, today is short. If someone does, today is the most useful note of the month.

Your baby

Around now, the cells that will become your baby and the placenta are days from settling into the womb (NICHD). Smoking before or during pregnancy harms both the pregnant woman and the baby (CDC). It slows fetal growth, so a baby may be too small even at full term, and it raises the risk of preterm delivery, birth before 37 weeks, and of birth defects such as cleft lip and cleft palate (CDC). Pregnant smokers face a greater risk of stillbirth, and smoking increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome after birth (CDC).

Your body

The best time to quit smoking is before you try to get pregnant; the next best time is as early in pregnancy as possible, and quitting at any point helps (CDC). Smoking roughly doubles the risk of abnormal bleeding during pregnancy and delivery (CDC).

Secondhand smoke matters on its own. During pregnancy it can cause lower birth weight and may cause preterm delivery, and babies exposed after birth face higher SIDS risk, ear and lung infections, and reduced lung function (CDC). The NHS week 4 list of things to do starts the same way: stop smoking, give up alcohol, cut back on caffeine (NHS).

Try today

  1. The quit-date circle

    Time: 5 minutes

    1. If you smoke, pick a date within the next seven days and circle it on the calendar from day 14.

    2. Tell one person today, out loud or by text: the date, and that you want them to ask about it.

    3. Write "ask about quitting help" on the first-visit list; don't start any quit medicine on your own, since the rule is to talk to your providers before starting or stopping any medicines (CDC).

    4. If nobody in the house smokes, write the household's smoke-free rule instead: no smoking indoors, in the car, or around her, by anyone, visitors included (CDC).

    Make it work:

    Quitting at any point helps (CDC). A circle you miss gets redrawn, not abandoned.

Watch for

  • Normal

    needing to pee more often, because hCG, produced in the first few weeks, increases blood flow to the pelvic region (NICHD).

    Call your provider

    if it hurts to pee or your urine changes odor or color (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    being more tired than the week asks of you; fatigue can appear as early as 1 week after conception (NICHD).

    Call your provider

    for overwhelming tiredness, or for trouble breathing (CDC).

  • Normal

    breast tenderness or tingling in the first weeks (NICHD).

    Call your provider right away

    about any vaginal bleeding in the first 3 months (MedlinePlus); smoking roughly doubles the risk of abnormal bleeding in pregnancy (CDC).

For you

If you're the partner who smokes, this is the week to quit alongside her. Secondhand smoke during pregnancy can lower birth weight and may cause preterm delivery (CDC), and smoking damages sperm and makes it harder to conceive (CDC), so this was always partly yours. Circle your own date. Tell her the date. Make it the same one.

If neither of you smokes, there is still a rule to write: the car, the porch, the visiting uncle. Babies exposed to smoke after birth face higher SIDS risk and more ear and lung infections (CDC). Rules are easier to set nine months early than at the door.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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