Gloria Escobedo and her daughter,
Veronica, share a quiet moment.
When Gloria Escobedo became pregnant with her second child last year, she decided she
had to stop smoking.
But how?
Fortunately, she found out that M. D. Anderson's Department of Behavioral Science offers
a smoking cessation program that would help her quit and give her baby a healthy start.
The Very Important Pregnant Smokers (VIPS) program begun during the past fiscal year is
designed specifically for expectant mothers in their first and second trimesters. VIPS
offers advice, self-help brochures and other interventions to help pregnant women quit
smoking, reduce their risk of relapse and remain abstinent after giving birth. A smoking
cessation handbook and a series of videotapes also are provided.
For Escobedo, the easy-to-carry smoking cessation handbook - which suggests alternatives
to lighting up such as walking, reading a book, finding a fun diversion and calling a
friend - was particularly helpful.
"When I felt like I needed a cigarette, I would open the handbook and read
it," she says.
Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have low birth-weight babies and
complications during delivery. Smoking also increases the chance of Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome and childhood respiratory infections.
"I'm glad I went through the program," Escobedo says. "It made a big
difference to me because I knew I didn't have to worry about my baby being born with any
birth defects due to smoking."
Gloria Escobedo and her daughter,
Veronica, share a quiet moment.