Twenty-year-old mother believed that smoking would make her unborn child stronger by restricting oxygen supply
A young mother smoked 3,500 cigarettes while pregnant claiming it was good for her baby.
Charlie Wilcox, whose daughter Lilly is now 14 weeks, reckoned that smoking would make her unborn child's heart stronger by restricting her oxygen supply and forcing her heart to work harder.
While she was pregnant Wilcox said: "It's making the baby use its heart on its own in the first place, so that when it comes out, it's going to be able to do them (sic) things by itself. Where's the proof that it's so bad to smoke?" Lilly weighed just 2.78 kilos at birth more than 450 grams less than the UK average of 3.25 kilos. She was also born ten days early.
Midwives tested 20-year-old Wilcox's carbon monoxide levels when she was pregnant and discovered they were six times higher than the level considered safe for a baby.
Harmful stress
But Wilcox, of Rainham, Kent, insists she was right to continue smoking. She said: "I think it was my right and I don't believe it was hurting Lilly. I wasn't ready to give up smoking. I think if I'd given up mid-way, straight away the stress would have been more harmful to the baby. "I felt her kick every day, and on every scan I went to, she was healthy and growing. I did manage to cut down to five a day when I was six months' pregnant up to when I gave birth.
"There is nothing wrong with her. I think she was a good weight, and she's developing well and now weighs 13lb(5.9 kilos) ."
Wilcox, who had hoped to join the police but currently lives on benefits, even claims giving up smoking caused a friend's miscarriage. She said: "My mate gave up smoking and she miscarried at nine weeks, on the same day I gave birth to Lilly.
"Me and my friends think it's because she gave up smoking. The mother-of-one told BBC3's Misbehaving Mums To Be that she typically smoked one cigarette every 45 minutes during her pregnancy, up to a minimum of 20 a day.
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