Tobacco.org

‘Baby and Me’ program provides incentives for mothers to quit smoking 

This fall, six women graduated from “Baby and Me —�Tobacco Free,” a program to keep women from smoking during and after pregnancy.

Funded by a grant and led locally by Hope Cook, the prenatal coordinator for the North�west Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, the program gives expecting and new moms incentive and motivation to quit smoking and stay smoke-free.

Missy Chotvacs was one of Cook’s fall graduates. She learned about the program through other VNA services. Chotvacs, 21, quit her 1 1/2-year smoking habit when she learned she was pregnant and has been smoke-free since. Her daughter, Mya Chotvacs Chase, is 13 months old.

Potential hazards to child development, keeping second-hand smoke away from her daughter and cutting the expense of cigarettes from a single parent’s budget were among Chotvacs’ reasons for entering and completing the program, she said.

During the program, participants get a monthly carbon dioxide screening,

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