12 Second, for some pediatricians, treating or counseling the parents of their patients may seem to be outside the scope of their practice. This is unfortunate if true. The American Academy of Pediatrics defines its mission as attaining optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. Smoking cessation counseling is yet another example of how this mission can best be accomplished by treating children in the context of their families. The contributions to children's health may be greater by interventions directed at the family as a whole than by any directed at the individual child.
Counseling requires minimal physician time.
There are notoriously few things that we do as part of well-child care for which there is sound evidence of benefit. Smoking cessation counseling is among them. We should make it a priority for our patients. It is time well spent. Predictors of low and very low birth weight and the relation of these to cerebral palsy.