Second-hand smoke

 

Tips on protecting your children from second-hand smoke:

Make your home and car strictly smokefree areas, 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Ask for support from your family/whānau by following your no smoking house and car rules. Throw away all the ashtrays in your home. Get rid of all your lighters. Be a good role model, never smoke in front of children. This can reduce the risk of them growing up to be smokers. If you smoke, get support to stop now. Support doubles your chance of staying quit.

Nothing is more important than our children and given that around 80% of current smokers would not smoke if they had their life over again, it’s disheartening for many, that children who have a parent who smokes are seven times more likely to become smokers.

Aside from that, second-hand smoke is especially dangerous to our children as they are especially vulnerable to second-hand smoke because of their lower body weight and smaller lungs. Second-hand smoke refers to when you're exposed to the harmful effects of tobacco because a person is smoking in an area near you.

Children must be protected from second-hand smoke because of the increased health risks that can come from second-hand smoke.

The negative effects of parental smoking (both before and after birth) on children's respiratory health have been confirmed. Asthma has been strongly linked with a mother’s smoking during pregnancy, however exposure to second-hand smoke after birth is also linked with many other respiratory problems.  

Keep your children safe so they can live long and healthy lives - stay smoke free.

• Smoking around children increases their risk of serious infections that affect breathing, such as croup, bronchitis and pneumonia.
• They’re also more likely to catch coughs, colds or wheezes.
• Smoking dramatically increases the risk of cot death (sudden unexpected death in infancy) for infants.
• Smoking increases the risk of your children contracting glue ear and other middle ear infections.
• Smoking increases the risk of your children getting meningococcal disease.

There are no safe amounts of exposure to second-hand smoke – people who are exposed can suffer many of the same diseases that regular smokers get, like lung cancer, coronary heart disease, nasal sinus cancer and acute stroke.