I was wondering..?

Question

MY FRIEND JUST HAD A BABY ABOUT A MONTH AGO. SHE'S A SMOKER. WHILE SHE WAS PREGGERS SHE REALLY DIDNT STOP SMOKING. THANKFULLY THE BABY CAME OUT OK. SHE WAS THINKING ABOUT BREASTFEEDING, BUT I TOLD HER THAT SHE WOULD NEED TO STOP SMOKING AND SHE WAS LIKE WHY?. I TOLD HER ITS LIKE SHE'S GIVING HER BABY THE NICOTINE AND I THINK IT ROTTS THE BABY'S TEETH AS THEY GET OLDER. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE TRUE EFFECTS ON A CHILD IF A MOTHER BREASTFEEDS WHILE STILL SMOKING BESIDES THE BABY HAS NICOTINE IN ITS SYSTEM?

Answer 1

Women who smoke while breastfeeding may
subject their baby to the risk of ...



Addiction - 05/02
Atherosclerosis - 07/01
Middle ear infections - 02/02
Less breast milk - 12/91 12/92
Destruction of brain cells - 05/02
Colic or excessive crying - 03/89
Circulatory damage - 07/01 07/01
Chronic Depression - 02/04 10/00
Not being able to initiate breast feeding - 07/02
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) - 01/05 09/02 11/97
Decrease in your child's ability to learn or memorize - 05/02
Not wanting to initiate breast feeding due to smoking - 1999
Growth of brain neurons to process nicotine - 05/02 03/02 11/95
A reduction in the breast's ability to pass key nutrients to the infant - 07/04

I hope you convince her to quit!!

Answer 2

The baby is going to be more cranky than babies without nicotine and going to be harder to get to sleep regularly. Just like with adults the baby will be addicted to the nicotine, which is a stimulant. So, baby will not sleep as much or as well. In regard to the crankiness, just like with adults, baby's body will crave the drug and cry because of it since that's there only form of communication.

Hopefully mom is not smoking around the baby exposing it to second hand smoke. Yikes....enter ear infections, lung problems like asthma, more frequent colds and sickness. Not a good thing!

I recommend slipping your friend some research from the American Cancer Society or other credible websites. Often times people respond better to facts rather than opinion! For the babies sake I hope you're successful!

Answer 3

Breastfeeding is still better than formula feeding, even if the mother is a smoker (as long as it's just cigarettes). She obviously shouldn't smoke while she's holding the baby, but stepping out to smoke & then breastfeeding the baby afterwards is not going to hurt the baby. I am a smoker & I smoked in between breastfeeding my first daughter. My doctor didn't have a problem with it & my daughter is now 2 years old & perfectly healthy.

Answer 4

Breastfeeding and smoking is better for her baby than formula feeding and smoking.

Breastfeeding provides many immunities that help babies fight illness and can even help counteract some of the effects of cigarette smoke on the baby: for example, breastfeeding has been shown to decrease the negative effects of cigarette smoke on a baby's lungs. It's DEFINATELY better if breastfeeding moms NOT smoke, but if she can't stop or cut down, then it is better to smoke and breastfeed than to smoke and formula feed.

Smoking CAN harm her milk supply. Moms who smoke are more likely to have problems producing enough milk and may have an inhibited let down response.

Please encourage her to CONTINUE breastfeeding and to try to AVOID smoking around the baby.

Answer 5

If a woman smokes and cannot or will not give it up or even cut down, it is *still* healthier for her baby for her to nurse her/him. The biggest risk of her continuing to smoke will be that someone else may end up raising her baby. Tell her that, and see if it makes an impression.

Other things to consider are that *any* baby (breastfed or otherwise) of a smoking parent has an increased risk of dying of SIDS, asthma, and respiratory infections. Her continuing to smoke can kill or permanently damage her baby in addition to minor illnesses.

Answer 6

The baby can die from nicotine withdrawls if the mom stops smoking completely. She would have to do it little by little.

Answer 7

she should get ready for a baby that cries a lot as when she stops giving the baby nicotine it will go through withdrawls.

Answer 8

The baby will not die if she quits smoking. Why would someone say somthing like that?

Answer 9

Today, most people are aware of the health risks associated with cigarette smoking, both for the smoker and those around them. Pregnancy is often a good incentive for a woman to cut down or quit entirely. If a mother smokes cigarettes, her baby can still enjoy the benefits of breastfeeding. But the more cigarettes a mother smokes, the greater the health risks for both her and her baby- whether he is breastfed or bottle-fed.

According to LLLI's THE BREASTFEEDING ANSWER BOOK, if the mother smokes fewer than twenty cigarettes a day, the risks to her baby from the nicotine in her milk are small. When a breastfeeding mother smokes more than twenty to thirty cigarettes a day, the risks increase. Heavy smoking can reduce a mother's milk supply and on rare occasions has caused symptoms in the breastfeeding baby such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. (Vorherr 1974). By keeping smoking to a minimum, a mother can decrease the risk. When a mother smokes a cigarette, the nicotine levels in her blood and milk first increase and then decrease over time. The half-life of nicotine (the amount of time it takes for half the nicotine to be eliminated from the body) is ninety-five minutes. For this reason, a mother should avoid smoking just before and certainly during a feeding.

Maternal smoking has been linked to early weaning, lowered milk production, and inhibition of the milk ejection ("let-down") reflex. Smoking also lowers prolactin levels in the blood. One study (Hopkinson et al 1992) clearly suggests that cigarette smoking significantly reduces breast milk production at two weeks postpartum from 514 milliliters per day in non-smokers to 406 milliliters per day in smoking mothers. Mothers who smoke also have slightly higher metabolic rates and may be leaner than non-smoking mothers, therefore, caloric stores for lactation may be low and the mother may need to eat more.

Smoking has been linked to fussiness. In one study, 40% of babies breastfed by smokers were rated as colicky (two to three hours of "excessive" crying) as compared with 26% of babies breastfed by nonsmokers (Matheson and Rivrud 1989). It's important to note that this link between smoking and colic has also been found with artificially fed babies with one or more smokers in the home (Lawrence, p.519).

However the baby is fed, parents should avoid exposing him to second-hand smoke by smoking in another room or preferably outside the house. Breathing second-hand or "side-stream" smoke poses health risks. Researchers have documented the health hazards to children when one or both parents smoke. In one study (Colley and Corkhill 1974) researchers monitored the respiratory health of 2,205 babies and found a significant correlation between parents' smoking habits and the incidence of pneumonia, bronchitis, and SIDS during their babies' first year of life. These increased risks are present in both breastfed and bottle-fed infants.

Bottle-fed infants have a much higher incidence of respiratory illnesses than breastfed infants. A bottle-fed baby whose mother or other household members smoke would therefore be at even higher risk of these problems. Dr. Jack Newman states "The risks of not breastfeeding are greater to the baby than the risks of breastfeeding and smoking. The decision is up to the mother and I would encourage her to breastfeed."

Due to the highly addictive nature of cigarette smoking, mothers who would like to quit may wonder about the safety of smoking cessation aids which replace nicotine. When used as directed, these products pose no more problems for the breastfeeding infant than maternal smoking does.

According to the 1999 edition of "Medications And Mother's Milk" by Thomas W. Hale, R.Ph., Ph.D., the blood level of nicotine in most smokers (20 cigarettes per day) approaches 44 nanogram per milliliter (ng/mL) whereas levels in patch users average 17 ng/mL, depending on the dose in the patch.

Dr. Hale writes, "Therefore nicotine levels in milk can be expected to be less in patch users than those found in smokers, assuming the patch is used correctly and the mother abstains from smoking. Individuals who both smoke and use the patch would have extremely high blood nicotine levels and could endanger the nursing infant. Patches should be removed at bedtime to reduce exposure of the infant and reduce side effects such as nightmares."

"With nicotine gum, maternal serum nicotine levels average 30-60% of those found in cigarette smokers. While patches (transdermal systems) produce a sustained and lower nicotine plasma level, nicotine gum may produce large variations in blood plasma levels when the gum is chewed rapidly, fluctuations similar to smoking itself. Mothers who choose to use nicotine gum and breastfeed should be counseled to refrain from breastfeeding for 2-3 hours after using the gum product."