Smoke-Free Babes

At the dog park the other day, I was forced to find a new bench to sit on away from a smoker. Sure it was outside, at a very large park, but I wasn't going to put myself or my unborn baby anywhere near it. Moving away from smoke is obvious, but did you know you could protect your little ones further by implementing the following steps? Two of these surprised me so I'll list those first:

• Ask smokers to wash their hands and brush their teeth before holding baby.

• Also, ask smokers to change into a clean shirt before holding baby.

• Don't allow anyone to smoke in your car or home, even at a party.

• Teach your children how to avoid secondhand smoke all by themselves and talk to them about the dangers.

• Support local restaurants and other businesses that have a smoke-free policy.

Secondhand smoke contains more than 50 cancer-causing chemicals and kills approximately 3,400 nonsmokers in the U.S. each year from lung cancer? Because their young bodies are always developing, young children are especially vulnerable to these poisons. For more information on keeping your family healthy, visit www.cdc.gov/tobacco.