The reasons why mothers and mothers-to-be continue to smoke despite being
aware of the health risks (even if they don't know or fully understand the
depth and breadth of those risks) could be more than plain addiction and
peer pressure, IMHO.

I'm sure a lot of Lacnetters will have seen the research showing that
women's smoking is *different* from men's.  I'm a journalist, so have a
journo's superficial take on it, so forgive me, but put in a nutshell,
smoking marks a 'time to myself' break for a woman. More significantly,
researchers also speculate that  it is a sign of her financial autonomy -
no matter how poor the  family, how bare the food cupboard,  how
down-at-heel the shoes, how many bills remain unpaid,  she is 'allowed'  by
her man, by her family, by her peer group, to find money for cigs. This is
the one 'must have' for a woman who 'can't have' anything else (because
she's single, unemployed, got poor prospects, no social life etc etc).  I
remember doing some interviews with  girls from a schoolgirl mothers unit -
many of them very poor, and most of whom smoked - including the ones who
had no tights or socks on their feet in mid-winter, and who didn't even
have a decent coat.

The second 'must-have' of course to mothers in this sector is formula milk.
In the UK mothers on income support (poorest of the poor) get it subsidised
(via milk tokens exchangeable to milk inc. formula milk) but not free of
charge, and it is still more expensive to bottle feed than to breastfeed.
But again, this gives them financial autonomy - it's a purchase they make
which no one they're close to can criticise.

Many poor mothers spend next-to- nothing on themselves *except*  for their
cigs. They also spend on their new babies - poor babies are often
beautifully-dressed and have nice prams, and they are the ones most likely
to be formula fed.

This is just one reason why ABM is 'chosen' instead of bf, of course - but
I think the parallels with smoking are valid.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc UK