Breastfeeding and Smoking

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that breastfeeding and smoking is okay, or that it’s okay to smoke while you’re pregnant, or even while your children are young and breathing the same air you breathe (or just exhaled). It’s not.

So, let’s get over the negatives first by talking about the best case scenario--you should not smoke at all while you are pregnant, and your children should not be exposed to second hand smoke. Then we’ll talk about breastfeeding and smoking.

Cigarette Effects During Pregnancy

It is now definite that smoking during pregnancy causes abnormal flow of certain important chemicals in your baby’s brain. Also, since you’re a smoker--you are a nicotine addict.

In 2003, there was a study done that showed your baby will likely be born as addicted to nicotine as you are, and it will go through nicotine withdrawal in the first weeks and months of it’s life. In other words, your baby’s first months will be similar to a “crack baby’s.”

Nicotine, specifically, is what harms your baby while it’s a fetus, not so much the other chemicals found in cigarettes. (This includes over 4,000 known substances, including 43 known carcinogens.) I’m not saying that these other substances are good for your baby, just that nicotine is the one doing by far the most damage.

According to the March of Dimes, smoking harms your unborn child in the following ways:

• Smoking nearly doubles your chances of having a low-birth weight baby
• Smoking increases your chances of your baby being born prematurely
• Smoking can cause complications in pregnancy, such as problems with your placenta which can result in heavy bleeding during delivery
• Also, smoking can cause ruptures of the sac that holds the baby inside your uterus

Of course, due to second hand smoke, your baby can experience all of these problems even if you are not the smoker--if you lived with a smoker, for instance.

Even once the baby is born, smoking can affect your child’s health, through the air it breathes and also through breastfeeding and smoking. Children exposed to second hand smoke are much more likely to suffer from bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. They are more likely to have ear infections from time to time. Also, they are more likely to develop asthma, or die of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Obviously, the best thing for your child is not to smoke! And quite frankly, if you are pregnant or have a child you need to quit…Now! But the question is: what should you do about breastfeeding and smoking? Back to that in a moment.

How to Quit When You’re Pregnant

Okay, now that you know how important it is that you quit smoking, there are a few things you need to know about how to quit. Read this article, which talks about the many ways to quit smoking.

One of these ways, NRT or Nicotine Replacement Therapy, however, is a method you should not use.

Of all the chemicals in cigarettes, nicotine is by far the worst for your child’s development. Patches, lozenges, or gum with nicotine helps you by getting you off cigarettes, but they do nothing for your fetus, because it is still getting the effects of nicotine through your blood stream.

So, try any of the methods mentioned, except NRT.

Having said that…let’s talk about the real topic for this article--breastfeeding and smoking.

Breastfeeding and Smoking

Alright, now you know you really need to quit. But I live in a real world, and I’m sure not all expectant mothers are actually going to quit. So, the question is, should you breastfeed or not

If you’re smoking while breastfeeding, it’s true that the chemicals that get into your body through cigarette smoke are going to get into your milk and into your baby’s body. Nicotine is no exception.

So, you might conclude you should not breastfeed if you can’t stop smoking.

And, that would be the wrong conclusion!

Breastfeeding is actually so good for your child that the benefits outweigh the negatives of your being a smoker. Take a look at this great breastfeeding resource!

So, the answer is, you should breastfeed even if you continue to smoke.

But for your child’s health, not to mention your own, you should also quit smoking yourself.

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