Anyone here smoking while breastfeeding?

Question

my sister continues to smoke after having her baby and is breastfeeding. She doesn;t have a computer, so she wanted me to put this question to everyone.

Answer 1

I'm a smoking mom who is breastfeeding and I had the same concerns. I've done a lot of research mainly because I needed an excuse to quit or to cut down as much as possible (just because I want to smoke doesn't mean I also don't want what's best for my baby... please remember that all of you who are shaking their heads in disappointment).

What I've found is that if you smoke less than 20 cigarettes a day, the amount of nicotine the baby receives is minimal. It also takes 95 minutes to process the nicotine out of your system. So BFing every 2 hours and making sure you only smoke 1 cigarette immediately after feeding can greatly reduce or eliminate the nicotine the baby receives altogether.

As some of the previous people mentioned, breastfeeding is still better than bottle feeding *PERIOD*. Though smoking more than 30 cigarettes a day can greatly increase health issues. So as long as she's under one pack a day, she should be ok.

The key thing here is not to encourage bottlefeeding, but to decrease the amount she smokes. To me, smoking while breastfeeding is a compromise. I smoked throughout my pregnancy, but only 1 cigarette per week (baby is perfectly healthy so far), and now that I'm BFing and the baby won't receive as many of the toxins as while I was pregnant, I would like to smoke more since it's something I enjoy, same with drinking.

I don't want to be the cause of any health problems, yet the addiction is a difficult one to quit. My compromise is; I get to smoke, but I will smoke as little as possible to try and reduce health risks as much as possible. Just because we *CAN* smoke while breastfeeding doesn't make it ok to just go to town with it!

So, I smoke about 3 cigarettes a day and I smoke strictly outside. I feel it's fine, and I know these people who've never smoked will damn me to hell, but they've never smoked, they don't understand. When I became pregnant, I was at 2 packs (40 cigarettes) per day and only smoked inside. *NOTHING* has ever made me make such a change in my 13 years of smoking. So, yes, I am doing what's best for my baby... even if it's not perfect.

Answer 2

It is better for the baby to be breastfed, whether the mother is a smoker or not. Breast milk is such a higher quality that even with trace amounts of nicotine in the milk, it is still more nutritious than formula. You didn't say how heavy she smokes, but if she can keep it under 20 cigarettes a day, the baby will not be affected at all. Contrary to popular opinion, the baby will not get hooked on nicotine from the breast milk unless the mother is an extremely heavy smoker, and even then it is unlikely, although possible. There are only trace amounts found in milk right after a mother smokes, 90 minutes later there will be nothing in the milk. It's just like drinking alcohol while breastfeeding, it's perfectly acceptable as long as you time it right with the baby's feedings. You can go to the AAP website and read all about this, it even states that forcing a mother to give up alcohol and smoking while breastfeeding is placing unnecessary demands on her. Hopefully your sister at least will do a heavy cleaning( clean carpets and curtains etc..) and not smoke in the house after the baby is born. Secondhand smoke is FAR more dangerous than breastfeeding. If she can't quit smoking altogether, at least she could compromise and step outside for the baby's sake and wash up before handling the baby.

Answer 3

Well - ahem - in MY day lol. It's true, when I raised my kids, eons ago, everyone smoked. In fact we would have morning coffee klatches, sitting around drinking coffee and smoking and breastfeeding. We had no idea of the dangers. None. Things are very different now, which is good. Knowing what we know now - it's definitely a killer, and can cause terrible health problems in the baby. Two of my kids had asthma, and were always being hospitalized with pneumonia - the other three had serious sinus problems. We never knew until many years later what caused their problems. But now we do, but we can't go back and change things, and I can't feel guilty now because we truly didn't know.

Answer 4

Smoking while breastfeeding is better than formula feeding while breastfeeding.

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

Smoking can lower her milk production and possibly interfere with her let-down reflex.

The BEST case scenario would be for her to quit smoking because then there is no worry about baby being exposed to second hand smoke and mom will be more likely to be around to see her child grow up. If she can't quit, she should avoid smoking around the baby and continue to breastfeed. She may want to have a "smoking jacket/sweater" that she wears over her clothes when she smokes to help minimize the amount of the stench that gets on her before she goes back to baby.

Answer 5

What did she want to know about it?

It is far safer for the baby for her to smoke and breastfeed than to smoke and *not* breastfeed. Nursing the baby will compensate for some of the damage the baby sustains as a result of exposure to cigarette smoke (even if your sister never smokes in the house or near the baby, the baby *is* exposed).

It is best if she cut down as much as possible in the number of cigarettes she smokes a day, and smokes right after breastfeeding so that there will be as little as possible left in her milk by the time she nurses next. Smoking can decrease milk production.

I am including links to the Web site of Dr. Thomas Hale, the world's foremost expert on drugs and breastfeeding.

Answer 6

the baby isn't getting enough nicoteen to matter, if you eat steak, the baby isn't getting steak in the milk, right? otherwise we could eat nothing but cereal and bananas. Smoking is bad for them, yes, but it is not a reason to stop breastfeeding. Tell her to cut back, and try to quit!

I found out that eating a lot of oranges prevents the cigarettes from doing harm and passing throught he milk. Tell her to ask about this and eat some oranges every day!

Answer 7

She really needs to either 1. stop smoking or 2. quit breastfeeding. I suggest option 1. because the baby needs all those vital nutrients given through breast milk. While breastfeeding you should not smoke, drink alcohol, or anything that you wouldn't want absorbed into your baby's body. Smoking while breastfeeding is really NOT GOOD and it is selfish and not fair to the innocent child.

Answer 8

Quitting smoking, or cutting back, not only improves your own health and that of your baby, but can also make breastfeeding easier. Studies indicate that smoking increases the risk of a lower milk supply and early weaning, so feed often so the milk production never slows.

Smoke after breastfeeding, in a room away from the baby, never in the car, and preferably outside. Smoking after you breastfeed means your blood levels – and thus your milk levels – of tobacco chemicals are at their lowest while you’re actually breastfeeding. Smoking outside helps keep your baby from inhaling second-hand smoke – a risk factor for SIDS and life-long respiratory problems. It also keeps you from re-inhaling your own smoke.

Nicotine patches, used according to instructions, can be a substitute for smoking and can reduce your blood (and milk) levels of nicotine and other tobacco-related chemicals. They also eliminate the risks of second-hand smoke. But it’s important not to smoke in addition to using the patch, or you’re simply adding more chemicals to what you already use. Remove the patch at night when you wouldn’t be smoking anyway. While nicotine gum has not been studied in breastfeeding women, it appears to have the same advantages as the patches. As with cigarettes, blood levels rise and fall according to use, so chew the gum after breastfeeding, to minimize the transfer of chemicals to your milk.

Others may be able to smell smoke in your expressed milk. Your baby’s urine may have levels of cotinine (a product of nicotine) that are several times higher than the levels in formula-fed babies of mothers who smoke. How can milk like that be better for your baby than formula? Your milk still contains living cells and other germ-killing substances that help protect your baby from disease, nutrients that are known to promote brain development and hormones that help your baby’s digestive and immune systems develop normally. Formula has none of these.

So even if you find you can’t quit or cut back, remember that breastfeeding your baby is still the most important investment you can make in you and your baby’s health.

Answer 9

No, I don't want my baby to have poison milk. I quit smoking when I found out I was pregnant. I would REALLY like a cigarette too! You just have to give some things up when you become a parent.

Answer 10

the lactation consultant at the hospital where my 4 month old was born actually told me that even if you are a smoker, it is still best to breast-feed instead of giving formula.

Of course, it would be best for her baby's health & her own if she quit ... but at least as far as the breast milk goes, it's still superior to formula even if she's a smoker.