Toddler and Tobacco..

[Pattycake]

hi, ladies, i have a question, i have beeing babysitting a 18 months yr old, her parents smoke all day everyday and when they bring me the girl to home she always smells bad (smoke), i dont think they smmoke in front of her but she has that smell on her clothes already, does this can affect her or my 2 yrs old girl????
thanks for looking. have a good day

[cay8099]

If she smells like smoke that much; they are smoking with her in the room. I smoke, but my kids do not smell like smoke. Eventually second hand smoke will have effects on her, but your daughter should not be effected.

[Pattycake]

yeah the lil girl im babysitting smells bad, i have to give her a bath and put some perfume on her.
thanks cay8099 for your response

[djasinski]

The child that is directly exposed to the 2nd hand smoke will eventually be effected. Thats just bad parenting! But your daughter should be fine.

[craftyashley]

I saw a segment on the news the other day about a study that showed "3rd hand" smoke can be dangerous to small children. The toxins are trapped in fabrics for example and can still cause just as much damage as 2nd hand smoke.

[4ofus&nomore]

yeah I saw that on 3rd hand smoke. People just dont care how horrible smokeing is and how it affects everyone. I get furious when my Inlaws smoke even outside with my children near. They use to babysit my dd three days a week and honest to god she kept bronchitis and pneumonia when I stopped working she hasnt had either since and she has also "out grown" her eczema and has beautiful skin now, imagine that! Now I just say dont smoke when the kids are around.

[schmoopie]

I have to say as a child of an ex-smoker, the effects of second and third hand smoke on children are devastating. My dad smoked for the first 10 years of my life. Even though he smoked outside, it still negatively impacted my health. I always had chronic bronchitis as a child. I missed a tremendous amount of school growing up. I then developed asthma, which I still suffer from as a 33 year old adult. I am currently fighting a lung infection, while the rest of my family has the common cold. Every time I'm exposed to a cold, it turns to bronchitis. To top all of this off, my dad almost died because of smoking when I was 10 (that's the only reason he quit).
Bottom line, it's not fair to kids when parents smoke. Smoking is a disgusting, selfish habit. It hurts you and everyone else around you. You can try to rationalize it all you want, but it isn't healthy for you and it isn't healthy for your kids. Plus, kids model adults' behavior. Do you want them to grow up and smoke too? Is getting a nicotine fix more important than the health of your family? These are fair questions to ask and I encourage Pattycake to forward this on to the girl's parents. Someone needs to stand up for this child's health and welfare.

[shannaatkins24]

what people dont understand about smoking is that it gets on your clothes,hair hand all over your skin in your breath and any room you smoke in the tar and nicotine stick to the walls so the room never really "airs" out. when you touch children after smoking it is still harmful because they can still breath in the 3 hand smoke from your body. so if this child smells like smoke it can still affect your child.my husband and i are non smokers and we try to do what we can to protect our kids from smoke. Talk to the lady you babysit for and tell her how you feel. you shouldnt worry what anyone thinks about you.you want your child to be safe, and that is your right as a parent.

[bluegrassmom]

I'd be careful, because your kids are being exposed to thirdhand smoke if the little girl you're babysitting smells like smoke. Maybe ask the parents to leave a few changes of clothes for her at your house and change her when she gets there. It's terrible that she's being exposed to life-threatening smoke, but your kids don't need to be too.

[haileejo'smom]

It makes me terribly sad to hear stories like this. All I can think about is that poor baby having to breathe in all those toxins, and they can do absolutely nothing about it. Get real people, just because you choose to smoke, doesn't mean the most precious people in your lives have to.