Smoking While Breastfeeding

Smoking while breastfeeding can cause problems with milk supply, respiratory illness and even colic for your baby. Good reasons to quit!

Can't seem to quit smoking? With a newborn baby in hand, nursing while breastfeeding can be a little complicated. This is because of the presence of nicotine, and we all know that this substance is very bad for any human being, much more a baby whose body parts are not fully developed yet.

What are the effects of smoking while breastfeeding? Who decides if you should stop or not? Why not learn more about the effects of smoking while breastfeeding first, then make your decision after?

Effects of Smoking While Breastfeeding

• Taste of Milk Changes
• Lower Prolactin and Breast Milk
• Respiratory Illness
• Secondhand Smoke
• Early Weaning
• Sleep Disturbances, Irritability, and Colic
• Diarrhea, Vomiting, Faster Heart Rate, Nausea

Taste of Milk Changes

When nursing a baby, it must be emphasized that what you eat and drink will affect the milk you feed your baby. This includes the nicotine you ingest when smoking, and your baby is likely to get exposed to this nicotine early in life. Furthermore, the taste of your milk might not be favorable to your baby.

However, there are ways to avoid exposing your baby to nicotine by smoking after breastfeeding instead of before, and not smoking at least 2 hours before feeding.

To learn more about the correlation between what mom eats and the taste of her breast milk, click here.

Lower Prolactin and Breast Milk

Smoking may lower the amount of breast milk you can produce. This is because prolactin, which is a protein hormone responsible for stimulating milk production, decreases by as much as 50% when smoking.

Respiratory Illness

Smoking directly affects the health of your lungs, and so by breastfeeding your baby, you expose her to possible respiratory illnesses. At such a young age, your baby will have destructive nicotine in her respiratory system, and if her genes and general physical health is not strong enough to fight respiratory ailments, she may have to deal with a life-long problem of respiratory illness.

Secondhand Smoke

It has been proven that secondhand smoke is even more toxic than the smoke inhaled by the smoker. It even causes higher incidents of ear infections among babies. This being the case, it is very important that you if plan to keep smoking while breastfeeding, the very least you should do is to stay away from your baby when you smoke, and avoid smoking inside your home or your car because the smoke can linger.

Early Weaning

Statistics shows that babies exposed to nicotine tend to be weaned earlier than babies who were not exposed. While reasearch ha not yet been able to explain why this is, there are two theories: First, the baby might refuse the milk because of the taste or lack of sufficient milk supply; and second, the mother might not be as interested in breastfeeding her child because of the conflict between smoking and nursing.

Sleep Disturbances, Irritability, and Colic

Smoking while breastfeeding can cause colic incidents in babies. In fact, the more the mother smokes, the higher the chances of the baby suffering from colic.

Anyone who has been close to a baby with colic, knows how hard it is on both baby and parent with the long crying spells and disturbed sleep pattern.

Diarrhea, Vomiting, Faster Heart Rate, Nausea

Diarrhea, vomiting, an increased heart rate, and nausea are other unpleasant symptoms that babies exposed to cigarette smoke and nicotine some times suffer from.

In conclusion, the disadvantages of smoking while breastfeeding are tremendous; the cards are stacked up against the helpless child. However, medical experts and doctors would rather have a smoking mother who breastfeeds than a mother who give formula milk. This is because of the nutritious value of mother's milk that can more than compensate for the ill effects of smoking, at least compared to formula and a smoking mom.

Thus, smoking while breastfeeding is fraught with potential problems, but it is not discouraged that much. Ideally, of course, you should quit smoking - forever. Unfortunately, this is something easier said than done. Just be aware that you will potentially be facing serious health issues - both for you and your child, and these are situations that cannot always be reversed.

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