Be honest, what is your very first thought when you see a very pregnant woman with a cigarette in her hand? Do you think that it is any indicator of how good a parent she will/won't be?

I don't like seeing a woman with a cigarette in her hand, but it's not me carrying the child. As far as drinking, having a glass of wine or two isn't bad (from what I hear), I'd think something different if she was holding a flask, taking swigs.

Not really. It's none of my business. Rather not see her falling down drunk.

I think it's in very poor taste and selfish on her part, and hope that she isn't doing any severe damage to her child, but that's about it. As cheaps said, it isn't my business enough to sit there and be all appalled over the display.

Yes I do. She knows better, but has instead opted to put her excesses ahead of the health of her baby. The unborn child of any pregnant woman who drinks and smokes should be assigned a case worker, because it's a sign of early negligence.

When my mother was pregnant with me she didn't eat ANY junk food at all because the whole family got dragged into my father's extreme diet that cut out basically anything with flavor to it. Because of that I was deemed a muscle baby at birth because she'd only eaten healthy for the whole pregnancy, no sugar, no soda, no fat, no salt, no grease, etc. That's not something I would expect anybody else to put themselves through during pregnancy, but if she could do that, I think women who are actually aware they're pregnant (mine didn't know until 6 months along) can figure out the danger they're putting their kids in. Everybody knows when you're pregnant the rules change as to what you can and can't do and can and can't eat and drink, too much caffiene could cause a miscarriage, so what do they think the nicotine or the booze is going to do?

We had a neighbor who smoked and drank and did drugs while pregnant, born 2 months early, about 3 pounds, (in biology in high school I had a picture of what a 'crack baby' looks like, the kind that are born addicted, he still looked better than our neighbor's kid did), and that should've been a red flag right there because she never paid attention to what he did and never corrected him and he was never brought up having any sense of what was healthy, what was right, what was wrong, etc., whatever he wanted, he had, and that's been a long, ugly picture. Many was the times he about got killed doing something stupid and she never did anything about it.

Opa Shale wrote:

I would probably enquire if she had been living under a rock and did she know the harm she was inflicting on her baby by smoking.

Also, if she smokes when pregnant she likely will have that child breathing her secondhand smoke in the home, causing asthma and other respiratory problems. Sorta selfish neglect and such ppl should be taken to task for endangering another person.

It is your business as a human to look after those among us in danger. Or, would you just watch as a toddler wanders into a busy street. "It ain't my baby, it ain't my business."

It's not my place to lecture them about it, but I do think less of pregnant women who do things like smoke, drink and anything else they KNOW has a good chance of harming their baby. I sure do.

Jason B. wrote:

It's not my place to lecture them about it, but I do think less of pregnant women who do things like smoke, drink and anything else they KNOW has a good chance of harming their baby. I sure do.

One of my female co-workers smoked all the way up until the time she gave birth. Everybody looked at her like she was from Mars when she'd light up. A few said something to her casually but I think most just tried to ignore it. Her kid was born healthy but she was lucky.

Unless its a family member it is not my business if the woman is just plain stupid.

I do judge a woman who does either. I guess the occasional glass of wine is ok per some doctors, but to see a woman partaking in public of smoke or drink, I assume she does it quite a lot.