Real life I smoked 4500 cigarettes to make my baby stronger

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‘I smoked 4,500 cigs to make my baby stronger'

Tuesday 24 May 2011

When 20-a-day smoker Charlie Wilcox discovered she was pregnant, she made the outrageous decision to continue her habit.

Smoking during pregnancy is the most common cause of sudden infant death syndrome but, shockingly, Charlie believes that it actually improved her little girl’s health – despite midwives explaining the risks it posed to her baby.

Revealing she smoked a staggering 4,500 cigarettes during pregnancy, she says: “My baby’s heart was forced to work harder, which was better for her in the long run.”

Midwives pleaded with Charlie, 20, to quit, explaining she could restrict her baby’s growth and brain development and risk her being born prematurely – but the deluded mum-to-be ignored their advice.

Speaking from the one-bedroom flat she shares with 12-week-old Lilly, boyfriend Shane Baker, 20, and mum Sam, 42, in Gillingham, Kent, unemployed Charlie says: “I love smoking, it’s my hobby. I didn’t bother to quit when I was pregnant because I knew it’d make my baby’s heart stronger.”

Charlie was just 14 when her then 16-year-old brother Nicholas – a 20-a-day smoker – offered her a cigarette. Their mum Sam, who also has a 20-a-day habit, smoked throughout both her pregnancies.

Revealing that Nicholas suffered bronchitis due to passive smoking when he was a baby, and last year died of a heart attack aged 21 – though doctors are unsure what caused this – Charlie adds: “I hated the taste of it, but I wanted to fit in so I carried on.”

Charlie used her lunch money to buy four cigarettes a day off classmates. She says: “Mum caught me smoking when I was 15 but couldn’t tell me to stop because she smokes too. By then I was addicted.”

Then, after meeting current boyfriend Shane at college, Charlie accidentally fell pregnant in June 2010, aged 19. “It was a big shock, but we were excited,” she recalls.

Revealing she never considered giving up, she had a cigarette every 45 minutes during her pregnancy – up to 20 a day.

“I’d have a fag with every cup of tea. I felt her kick regularly, and scans showed she was healthy so I didn’t feel guilty,” she brags.

Butcher Shane, who smokes 20 a day, says: “I heard smoking was bad for the baby, but scans showed she had a regular heartbeat.”

Charlie, who lives on benefits, claims she cut down to five a day when she was seven months pregnant because money was tight and she had to buy things for her baby.

In February Lilly was born 10 days early at 6lb 2oz – more than a pound lower than the UK average of 7lb 4oz. Smoking in pregnancy can cause low birth weights, but Charlie insists Lilly was small because she’s 5ft 4.

Charlie even naively believes one of her pals miscarried because she quit smoking.

She insists: “She found pregnancy stressful, but if she’d carried on smoking it would’ve relaxed her.”

Doctor Sarah Jarvis says: “When you smoke, you inhale over 4,000 chemicals, including carbon monoxide. Depriving the baby of oxygen can reduce all aspects of growth, including brain development. This can lead to breathing problems and learning difficulties later in life. Smoking during pregnancy is also the single most common cause of sudden infant death syndrome.”

Charlie simply says: “I must have been lucky because my Lilly is doing great.”
She says she never smokes in front of Lilly, due to memories of her brother’s childhood bronchitis caused by passive smoking.

She adds: “I’ll give up one day, but I get grumpy when I’ve not had a cigarette.”

By Natalie Corp