Expectant mothers in an Ohio town who kick their smoking habit can receive free diapers as part of a new program that aims to reduce premature births and infant mortality, which have been linked to tobacco inhalation during pregnancy.
Under the Summit County Baby & Me Tobacco-Free Program, mothers-to-be who smoke can earn a $25 diaper voucher for each month after their child’s birth for a year if they quit during pregnancy, attend at least four support group sessions, and pass monthly carbon monoxide tests after delivering their baby.
Brittney Lykes, a 24-year-old smoker who’s pregnant with twins, has heralded the program has an effective means of support as she works to cure her nicotine addiction. Lykes, formerly a half-a-pack a day smoker, told the Associated Press that since learning of her pregnancy she has cut down her tobacco intake to just one cigarette a day.
“I don’t want any harm done to them or my other ones I have here,” said Lykes. “You have to think about the babies.”
Women who smoke during pregnancy have a greater likelihood of delivering their newborns preterm, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), primarily because toxins in cigarettes and other tobacco products separate the placenta from the womb early in the pregnancy. Babies born prematurely — or more than three weeks before the expected due date — have lower birth weights and experience longer stints in the hospital.
Smoking during pregnancy also increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as SIDS, and a host of birth defects including cleft lip and cleft palate.
While more than 40 percent of pregnant women think about putting out their cigarette during pregnancy, not all of them actually follow through. Across the nation, less than 7 percent of people who attempt to kick the habit do so successfully, according to the American Cancer Society. Among expectant mothers who regularly use cigarettes, nearly 10 percent reported smoking during the last trimester of their pregnancy, according to the CDC. And among the 55 percent of women who quit smoking during pregnancy, nearly 40 percent of them relapsed within six months of delivering their baby.
That’s why the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists considers smoking cessation programs for pregnant women to be effective in decreasing infant mortality rates and ensuring a cleaner bill of health for newborns and their mothers. The advocacy organization touts an intervention model that combines counseling, cessation materials and information pamphlets, and coordinated intervention efforts between primary care providers and smoking cessation specialists.
Jamestown, New York’s “Baby & Me Tobacco-Free Program,” which the Ohio-based program is modeled after, implemented the diaper voucher portion as part of an effort to incentivize healthier lifestyle choices among pregnant women, particularly those from low-income communities who are younger than 25 years old and have low educational attainment. Diapers have proven to be useful as a bargaining tool, especially since one-third of mothers reportedly have difficulty purchasing them, since they’re not currently an allowable expense under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Women Infant and Children (WIC) benefits.
Laurie Adams, founder and executive director of the national Baby & Me Tobacco-Free Program, which now in more than a dozen states, said the program had a success rate of more than 60 percent between 2006 and 2009, which she ascribed to the support mothers received during what’s likely a stressful point in their lives.
“We’re getting these moms to quit during the course of pregnancy, but we’re keeping them quit, which is the toughest part,” Adams told the Akron Beacon Journal. “We show positive messaging to help the mom feel like she has all the support she needs to quit.”