Research says 43% of women take up smoking again after pregnancy

Research published in the journal Addiction and from several other studies has shown that although a number of women quit smoking during pregnancy, 43 percent start again within six months of having a baby.

Calling for more action to help mothers quit smoking for good is Public Health England, which says that emphasis should be placed on before they give birth, to hope that the message continues after the arrival of the baby, reports the BBC.

Cessation services are in place to help mothers to quit smoking, the results of which have been analysed by scientists from universities in Nottingham and York.

It was information from different international trials, including those in the UK and involving around 1,000 participants, which showed that out of all the women who had tried to quit smoking between 1989 and 2014, only a small minority of women had succeeded.

However, figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre indicate that 11 percent of pregnant women were smokers at the time of giving birth between 2014 and 2015, which marks a 15 percent decrease from the previous eight years.

Prof Jonathan Grigg, from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the findings were worrying and that "we need to fully support parents in the first few months with their baby to highlight to them the importance of keeping their home smoke-free".