Children in Smoky Homes
What's the problem?
It is estimated that 40% of households with children in the UK – i.e. around five million children – are exposed to secondhand smoke in the home1. In Wales, this figure is 37%2
Did you know?
CHILDREN of smokers are a shocking 70 per cent more likely to end up in hospital than youngsters whose parents don’t light up, according to a top medic.
And Dr Iolo Doull, consultant respiratory paediatrician at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, claims about a third of youngsters he treats are there because of chest-related problems linked to passive smoking in the home.
Dr Doull said:
“If either parent smokes your chances of having a chest problem are 20 per cent greater and chances of having an ear problem are 60 per cent greater. Sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death, is twice that in mothers who smoke.
“Basically, you’re more likely to have coughing and wheezing in the first two years of life. The risks of coming into hospital are 70 per cent greater than if you have got parents who don’t smoke.”
Dr Doull said the regularity with which children visited with chest problems compared to the amount their parents smoked showed the extent of its effects.
He added:
“Parents should not smoke in the house. It doesn’t matter if the parents are in the living room and the child is in the kitchen, they should smoke outside.
Babies and toddlers are particularly at risk:
- They cannot escape the indoor smoke as they need to stay near their parents.
- They are unable to say that the smoke bothers them.
- They have small, developing, fragile lungs which are more susceptible to smoke damage (you may notice that they have more coughs and that they wheeze more).
- They have small inner ear canals, increasing their chances of smoking-related 'glue ear' infection.
Children are much more likely to take up smoking if their parents smoke at home.
So what's the solution?
Make your home smokefree! Simply ask smokers to pop outside when they want a cigarette.
What will a smokefree home mean to my children?
Children:
- will be less likely to be absent from school with colds and coughs
- will have greater lung capacity
- will no longer smell of tobacco.
- will enjoy their home environment much mor
- will be far less likely to start smoking themselves
Babies:
- will have a reduced risk of cot death
1. British Medical Association Board of Science. 2007. Breaking the cycle of children’s exposure to tobacco smoke. London – BMA.
2. Wales Centre for Health. Nov 2007. Smoking in Wales: current facts. http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/Documents/568/WCH%20smoking%20ban%20report%20E%20final.pdf