If the smoke is just on my clothes, will it still harm my baby?
Once or twice a day when my baby is napping or when my girlfriend is home, I step outside to have a cigarette. I throw out the butt before I come in the house, then I immediately wash my hands. If I go pick up my baby right afterward, will the smell of smoke that lingered on my clothes harm her in any way?
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23 Answers
Yes. The nicotene and tar etc. are in the smoke and the smoke is in your clothes.
@Simone_De_Beauvoir Thanks for the great link. I already planned on this being my last pack, but maybe I’ll change my clothes and throw out my pack now ;)
I’d love to read this research. Frankly, I have a hard time believing that they’ve actually proven that infants can be harmed by smoke residuals in clothing.
That said, and at the risk of sounding judgmental, you really should quit smoking. Smoking will shorten your life and reduce the quality of your life. Even if you protect your children from the smoke, you are depriving them of years of your company. You are depriving their children of their grandparent. I know it’s not easy, but I always give quitters two pieces of advice that helped me quit:
1. If you slip and have a smoke, don’t think of it as a failure, as Blues Traveler said: “there’s no such thing as a failure who keeps trying.” Keep working at it.
2. As Yoda said: “Do or do not. There is no try.” Don’t think of it as trying, don’t tell people you are trying to quit, tell them you are quitting. Saying and thinking: “I’m trying to quit” leaves failure as an option. It is not an option, no matter how long it takes to quit.
@stemnyjones do it and take a shower, where you wash out your roots a lot…( and I applaud you for quitting)
This is such a good time to quit smoking… for your baby, if not for yourself. Your child needs you healthy and around for a long time.
quitting smoking is difficult and you may need help in doing so, I read alan carr’s book easyway to quit smoking and it really helped…..good luck
Thanks everyone.
I’ve actually quit smoking for long periods of time (a year or more) more than once… and we literally don’t have the money to buy more cigarettes, so I know I’ll be able to quit. I just wanted this one last pack, I suppose.. being a new mommy is stressful ;)
I think whatever effect it might have on your child would be trivial. My father smoked the whole time while my mother was pregnant with me and I’ve had pretty good health my whole life. So I doubt that a little bit of smoke on your clothes is going to have a significant effect on your child.
@colliedog While I’m glad you turned out fine, I try not to take that approach on life.
Like I’ve said many times, just because someone smokes crack once and doesn’t get addicted, doesn’t mean you should try it.
Yes it will harm your baby. Because you are smoking and could get sick and die.
Is that what you want your legacy to be for your children?
@colliedog not to scare you or anything but whatever damage was done to your DNA could rear its head when you’re older and with a pretty aggressive cancer – also there is no way to know the kind of good health you could have had…if you weren’t exposed to all that…also personal anecdotes do not a pattern make
Looks like you already got your answer! I just wanted to say that your baby is adorable. :)
Yes, the smoke is toxic if your clothes smell like it the baby is breathing in the toxins, which over a long period of time can cause some health issues
We need to keep things in perspective. Unless you wrap your baby into your clothes all the time, I don’t think the danger is higher than using a busy highway taking your baby with you. Increased levels of fine particles (for example created when car drivers hit the brake) in the air are linked to health hazards such as heart disease, altered lung function and lung cancer.
@mattbrowne – that’s true but why add to the exposure they get in a busy street
@Simone_De_Beauvoir – Yes, of course. But sometimes it helps to distinguish between major and minor risks. A pregnant mother who smokes creates a major risk. Same for a baby growing up in a house being exposed to passive smoking.
@mattbrowne but the question wasn’t about major or minor risks – it was about whether third hand smoke is harmful. the answer is yes.
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