Shameless: TV mother who smoked thousands of cigarettes while pregnant insists it was GOOD for her daughter



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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 Miss Wilcox told BBC3’s Misbehaving Mums To Be: ‘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.



Sticking to her guns: Charlie Wilcox still maintains that her daughter Lilly is healthier because she smoked while pregnant 'Where’s the proof that it’s so bad to smoke?’ Lilly weighed just 6lb 2oz at birth – more than a pound less than the UK average of 7lb 4oz. She was also born ten days early. Midwives tested 20-year-old Miss Wilcox’s carbon monoxide levels when she was pregnant and discovered they were six times higher than the level considered safe for a baby. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next The dangerous middle-class myth about teaching your child 'safe' drinking Schoolboy, 10, who weighed 280lbs becomes the youngest person ever to have a gastric band op Share this article Share But Miss 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 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. There is nothing wrong with her. I think she was a good weight, and she’s developing well and now weighs 13lb.’

Protective: Miss Wilcox says that she never has a cigarette in front of Lilly, although she smoked a minimum of 20 a day while carrying her

Miss 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 said that she typically smoked 15 to 20 cigarettes a day during the first six months of pregnancy.

She said she then cut down to around five a day, taking the total number of cigarettes smoked during her pregnancy to around 3,500.She described smoking as ‘like a hobby’, adding: ‘I love smoking. I love just having that something there to do.’

Heedless: Charlie Wilcox smoked throughout her pregnancy despite midwives warning her it could harm her baby

However Miss Wilcox, who began smoking aged 14, says she hasn’t smoked in front of Lilly since she was born.

Her boyfriend, and Lilly’s father, Shane Baker, 20, said: ‘At first I didn’t agree with Charlie smoking throughout her pregnancy.

‘I heard all the speculation and gossip about what smoking does to the baby, so I was worried at first.

‘But the scan results were showing different. They were showing we had a healthy baby with a regular heartbeat. To Charlie’s smoking critics, I would say that unless you’re in the situation yourself, then you shouldn’t jump to conclusions.’