Smoking when pregnant is seriously bad news for both the unborn baby and also the mother-to-be, so it is very important that positive action is taken to quit before pregnancy - on the assumption that it will have been planned some time in advance.
But if your pregnancy is unplanned or you haven't realised how important it is to quit smoking when pregnant, urgent methods need to be adopted to eliminate the habit and the stress that inevitably accompanies quitting.
I was fortunate to have stopped smoking well before I became pregnant - virtually by accident.
During the course of a mere 16 hours I overdosed on cigarettes (and even a few small cigars) which made me feel so terrible that I've never smoked again! And there's no-one worse than a reformed smoker for laying down the law about not smoking when pregnant whatever the original reason was for having given up, so please bear with me.
The first thing to be aware of is that although it's essential to give up as quickly as possible for the baby's sake, it is almost equally important to avoid stress which could also have an adverse affect on the baby.
So actually quitting smoking when pregnant can be even more of a problem than it would have been in normal circumstances.
But having said that, there is a greater incentive to quit because the health of two people is now involved.
So bearing in mind both the major objective of stopping smoking and the important secondary aim of avoiding too much stress, I have researched the methods available and have come to the firm conclusion that hypnosis in one form or another is the best way of quitting smoking when pregnant.
Although hypnosis wasn't the method that cured me (it was more like aversion therapy!) I have benefited greatly from this technique in other areas of my life and self-hypnosis is still something that I use to help me through difficult times or to calm myself when things may be getting a bit crazy or unmanageable.
So, although I admit to being a bit biased because of my own good experiences, I have objectively researched the methods available with the emphasis firmly on quitting smoking when pregnant and have found that hypnosis can be as much as three times more effective as nicotine replacement methods in getting the desired results.
This conclusion was reached in one major study conducted recently and supports other findings in the past although obviously success is never guaranteed.
But what in my opinion is a most important feature of hypnosis is that it not only actively deals with stress problems associated with quitting smoking when pregnant but also can be used to help deal with emotional and other problems during and after pregnancy.
In case anyone has any misgivings about hypnosis, it is nothing remotely like what you can see in stage shows where people can appear to be under the control of the hypnotist and be made to do all sorts of things which they would never do normally.
What you're seeing is just pure showbiz not serious medical or clinical practice aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of the person involved.
And I would definitely advise against embarking on an extended course of hypnosis which can be very expensive and is not necessarily any more effective.
Longer term you could become dependent on the support of the hypnotherapist who helped you quit smoking when pregnant rather than taking control of your own life, which you can achieve by the ongoing use of self-hypnosis.