Tops tips for Kerry (From This Is Cheshire)

Tops tips for Kerry

2:14pm Saturday 10th November 2007

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A LEADING UK cot death charity has sent pregnant former pop singer Kerry Katona an emergency support pack to urge her to stop smoking.

The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) is appealing to Kerry, who admitted in a recent interview that she still smokes one cigarette a day, to quit smoking and set an example to other pregnant women who are putting the lives of their unborn children at risk.

A study released last month reported that nine out of 10 mothers who have lost children through cot death smoked during pregnancy.

Twice crowned Mother Of The Year, Kerry will receive an FSID pack with facts about smoking during pregnancy, a baby room thermometer and advice leaflets about how to reduce the risk of cot death.

Joyce Epstein, FSID director said: "When we heard that Kerry Katona is pregnant and struggling to quit smoking, we wanted to offer our support.

"Many women who smoke find it difficult to quit, but it's important that they know the harm it can cause as an incentive for giving up.

"As Kerry has won Mother of the Year more than once, she has the opportunity to show that it can be done, and set an example for mothers in the same position."

Research has also revealed that babies whose mothers smoke during pregnancy are 15 times more likely to die of cot death than babies of non-smoking mothers with the risk increasing with the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

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