It is better not to smoke during pregnancy.
Image: dpa
Expectant mothers need incentives to stop smoking. A voucher for sneakers and perfume is more attractive than the prospect of a healthy child. This may inspire further interventions.
EIn fact, you’d think pregnancy would be reason enough to quit smoking. When the mother-to-be puffs on a cigarette, the child cannot breathe: Instead of oxygen, carbon monoxide and toxic substances swim in the blood. At birth, the children are often small and emaciated, have deformities and later have problems at school. The risk of stillbirth and sudden infant death increases. It may come as a surprise that all of this does not persuade many women to give up smoking. What is even more amazing is what can serve as motivation instead: a shopping trip. At least that’s what doctors report, including from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Smoking cessation counseling is offered to pregnant women in England. The researchers recruited around 950 subjects. Half completed the usual program, they were informed about the risks of smoking and received free nicotine replacement. The other half also received the prospect of a £400 shopping voucher. They could spend these in various shops – for example in drugstores or shoe stores. They only had to answer regular questions and show a negative carbon monoxide breath test and saliva samples at the end of the pregnancy. In fact, twice as many women quit smoking in the shopping group, 126 instead of 58, as in the control group. In the long term, such “financial incentives” would save the healthcare system money, the researchers write.