In the fragile weeks and months after birth, when exhaustion and stress conspire against the best intentions, many women who quit smoking during pregnancy quietly return to it — not from weakness, but from the absence of support at precisely the moment they need it most. A study from the University of East Anglia, following 886 women across England and Scotland, found that trained health visitors delivering structured relapse-prevention support could meaningfully shift that outcome, with 57.6 percent of women in the BabyBreathe programme remaining smoke-free at one year compared to 49.9 percen
Health visitor support significantly boosts postpartum smoking abstinence rates
Improved maternal and child health outcomes through reduced smoking exposure and prevention of smoking-related diseases in mothers and secondhand smoke exposure in infants.