Official states some pregnant teens smoke to help lose weight

By Tiffiny Woo

Published: July 10, 2008

The Alabama Department of Public Health is taking action to help pregnant teens in Barbour County quit smoking.
Public Health Area 10 Tobacco Prevention Coordinator Corey Kirkland says that weight loss is a common reason pregnant teens continue smoking during pregnancy. Approximately 4 percent of pregnant teenagers in Barbour County smoke, according to data from the ADPH. The percentage is higher in neighboring counties.
“A lot of them look at smoking as a way to keep the weight off during their pregnancy,” he said. “A lot of girls are afraid their boyfriend will leave them if they gain weight.
“At that age, girls worry about their looks more and the fact escapes them that weight gain is not only normal, but also healthy for them and the baby.”
In addition, Kirkland says smoking has little to do with weight management during pregnancy, and is probably not as effective as many teens believe.
“It’s usually a change in diet or eating habits that really affect their weight, not the smoking,” he said.
The idea that smoking relieves stress is another common misnomer among many smokers, not just pregnant teens, says Kirkland.
“For a smoker, their body craves the nicotine,” he said. “So, when they are stressed and then smoke a cigarette, they’re not really relieving the stress, they’re satisfying their body’s craving for that nicotine, but the stress is still there. That calming feeling of satisfying their nicotine craving is often thought of as relieving stress.”
Smoking during pregnancy may not relieve stress or combat weight gain, but it can pose danger to an unborn child’s life.
Kirkland says smoking during pregnancy causes problems such as miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and premature rupture of membranes. There is also a strong link between tobacco use during pregnancy and pre-term deliveries, low birth-weight, stillbirth and neonatal and perinatal mortality.
Even after birth, smoking can cause health problems for babies and children.
“We’ve seen girls who will quit while they are pregnant but then start smoking again once the baby is born,” says Kirkland. “Pneumonia, frequent ear infections, bronchitis are common ailments we see in babies exposed to second-hand smoke. A lot of people don’t realize that washing their hands after they smoke and changing their clothes before holding a baby can help protect them from harmful chemicals in cigarettes.”
He adds that evidence shows how asthma can be triggered in the womb for a child whose mother smoked during pregnancy.
Kirkland believes that lowering a child’s exposure to cigarette smoke both in and out of the womb will also have an impact on infant mortality rates.
In several surrounding counties, the number of pregnant teens who smoke is higher than the state average. Five of the eight counties in the area reported percentages higher than the state average of 13 percent.
Area 10 consists of Barbour, Crenshaw, Coffee, Pike, Dale, Geneva, Houston and Henry counties.
A 2006 report stated that of those counties, Henry County held the highest percentage of pregnant teens who smoke, reporting 20 percent. Barbour County had the lowest percentage at 3.8 percent.
To help combat these high rates, Kirkland has been working in conjunction with youth tobacco cessation coordinator Laarni Cox to promote a new program designed to target tobacco-using youth and pregnant teens.
ADPH has launched a MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/alquitnow, where teens can obtain information about the effects of smoking and help to quit smoking. They’ve also printed pamphlets and posters referring teens and pregnant teens to the Alabama Tobacco Quitline, 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
Callers can talk with a counselor who will help them devise a personalized plan to quit smoking.
It’s not just a one time deal. People interested in the program go through 6-10 over-the-phone counseling sessions depending on their specific needs. After completing the sessions, the ADPH sends them a Quit Kit with information on how to avoid things like weight gain or how to deal with stress while they quit smoking. If circumstances allow, Kirkland says they will also pay for up to a month’s supply of nicotine patches.
Teens who agree to counseling and complete the program will also receive a $25 gift card.
“A more recent survey says our state average rate of teenage smokers has dropped from 27 to 22 percent, but that’s still above the national average of 20 percent,” says Kirkland.
Helping teens make healthy decisions early in life is one goal of the program.
“Teenagers are susceptible to advertising and things they see in movies,” Kirkland said.
He adds that people in their 30s have probably already made up their minds whether they will smoke or not, but teenagers are just starting to make those decisions.
“And teens always think they’ll live forever or think they can do it now and quit later,” says Kirkland. “They don’t realize all the risks and don’t consider that smoking is an addiction that won’t be so easy to break later when they’ve been smoking since they were teenagers.”
For more information, call Kirkland at 334-693-2220.