Tips for using NRT

Below, we’ve put together a few practical usage tips from pregnant women and their Stop Smoking Practitioners:

If it’s itchy, or irritable, or leaves a red mark on your skin, put the patch in a different place every day.
If you have trouble with your patch not sticking, put it in a position where it could be held in place by a bra strap, or use sticking plasters or micropore tape to hold it in place.
It's standard advice to take your NRT patch off at night - keeping a patch on overnight can disturb your sleep. However, some women wake in the night or first thing in the morning with really strong cigarette cravings, so we recommend keeping some fast-acting NRT (lozenges or inhalator) close to your bed. Then, if you experience cravings like this, you can 'top up'.
If you usually smoke as soon as you get up or while still in bed, put on your patch as soon as you wake - while still in bed - and take some fast-acting NRT straight away to lessen the craving.
Your could leave post-it notes around your house to remind you to put on a new patch every morning and remove it at bedtime.

Keeping the lozenge in your mouth for too long can be unpleasant- once you’ve got rid of your craving, you don’t have to finish the lozenge - just spit it out because it’s done its job, your cravings have gone.
Aim to take your lozenges or inhalator at the same times each day. Try setting an alarm or other reminder to help you to remember to take it. Then soon it will become a habit.

Always have some spare inhalator capsules with you. There’s no point having the inhalator with nothing inside it!