While smoking is becoming more and more marginalised, NHS figures show that as many as 70,000 births throughout England are still affected by smoking during pregnancy.
While the overall smoking rate has fallen to below 11%, it is estimated that there are still 2,200 premature births, 5,000 miscarriages and 300 stillbirths each year and there is a wide social and geographic range. According to the BBC, the NHS data shows 27.2% of mothers-to-be in Blackpool smoke throughout pregnancy compared with just 2.1% in Westminster.
The Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group has urged that a national target of below 6% by 2020 be set. According to data from the Health & Social Care Information Centre, there is wide regional variation in the number of women who smoke in pregnancy. Their latest figures show one in five women living in the Durham, Darlington and Tees area report having smoked during pregnancy compared with one in 20 women in London.
The group of 20 organisations behind the campaign includes Action on Smoking and Health, Bliss, the Faculty of Public Health, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Nursing.
Action on Smoking and Health chief executive Deborah Arnott said the government must maintain ‘a strong commitment to tackling smoking among pregnant women’.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists president Dr David Richmond added: “Stopping smoking is the most important thing a pregnant woman can do to improve her baby’s health, growth and development and reduce unnecessary pregnancy complications.”
This is where hypnotherapy can play a largely successful and non-invasive role. With more than 1,800 highly-trained and qualified therapists on its nation-wide directory, the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) can offer smoking cessation sessions to pregnant women.
And, says the NCH, research shows that by quitting smoking with hypnosis a smoker is three times more likely to give up than if they had used nicotine patches. Helping people quit smoking is one of hypnotherapy’s success stories and a physical addiction to cigarettes can be over in just one week.
But the number of sessions required can vary. Says the NCH: “This will vary according to the habit the hypnotherapist is working with you on.
“For something like smoking it may only be a one session treatment as smoking is a habit that you can give up for good, so the therapist may use what is known as aversion techniques which will put you off having another cigarette.”
By using hypnotic techniques, a hypnotherapist can help to remove habits with precision and a total freedom from side effects. If the smoker is keen to quit the habit and prepared to work with the therapist, The chances of success are so much better. And the newer the habit, the easier it can be to break.
Professor Russel Viner, at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, told the BBC that smoking rates among teenage mothers-to-be remained considerably higher than the rest of the population.
“They are almost six times as likely to smoke throughout pregnancy as women who are over 35,” he said.
By contacting a hypnotherapist near you – click here to use the NCH directory – you could end your smoking habit and ensure a healthier life for your children.