Regarding this topic, the opinion of scientists and doctors is clear: it is undesirable to smoke while breastfeeding. But, unfortunately, many smoking mothers do not give up this addiction neither during pregnancy, nor after the birth of a child, and even when breastfeeding. However, smoking women often ask themselves: what is the danger of smoking while breastfeeding? Can they breastfeed or do they need to quit smoking to breastfeed? And how can you minimize the effect of nicotine on your baby’s body? The answers to these questions can be found in the article.
Fatal effects of exposure to cigarettes
It has been proven that the lethal dose of nicotine for a healthy person is 60 mg (if you eat tobacco), while one cigarette contains approximately 9 mg of nicotine. This is a lethal dose for a one-year-old baby, whose average weight is no more than 10 kg, can accidentally find a cigarette and eat it. Passive smoke has been proven to be even more toxic than smoke inhaled by a smoker. Nicotine is very harmful to the child, not only in the format of second-hand smoke, but even in the format of the mother’s smoking touch with the child, since nicotine penetrates the body even through the skin. If a child simply takes this cigarette and wrinkles it and breaks it with his hands, then this is also very dangerous for his health. Therefore, parents need to carefully monitor where you leave cigarettes, and whether your child can reach them.
Why are cigarettes harmful?
About how harmful smoking is for a person, as well as the consequences of smoking during breastfeeding, every woman knows. But, unfortunately, fewer and fewer pregnant women can abandon this bad habit for the sake of their child’s health. Perhaps they do not know that each cigarette contains more than 3900 elements dangerous to the human body, and of this number, approximately 60 can affect the occurrence of cancer. This is all due to smoking.
Does nicotine pass into milk while breastfeeding?
Yes, your baby can get nicotine through breast milk. After the woman smoked a cigarette, nicotine enters the bloodstream through the lungs and, after 25 minutes, reaches its maximum concentration there. Blood nourishes all organs and tissues, poison with blood circulation spreads throughout the body, and enters breast milk. Nicotine has an effect on blood vessels and milk ducts, constricts them, slows the access of oxygen to tissues and makes milk production difficult. In this case, the nicotine content in the blood is the same as in breast milk. After a certain time (2.5 hours), the poison is removed from the blood and from breast milk.
Important!
You should always remember that smoking enhances the effect of caffeine, which is also undesirable for the baby, so if the mother still smokes while breastfeeding, then you should not do this with a cup of coffee, as many smokers like to do. Also, during and after smoking, breast milk is not so saturated with essential vitamins and beneficial enzymes, in addition, it acquires the aftertaste and smell of cigarettes, which persists for up to an hour after smoking.
Examples of scientific studies regarding maternal smoking while breastfeeding
- If the mother smokes more than 21 cigarettes per day during breastfeeding, the harm caused by nicotine to the baby increases several times. Frequent smoking causes a reduction in the amount of milk and in rare cases causes certain symptoms in the child, namely: nausea, vomiting, colic, diarrhea, asthma, ear infections.
- Smoking while breastfeeding is a prerequisite for early weaning. According to statistics, feeding lasts only 3-5 months, and there is also a decrease in the formation of milk and a decrease in the level of prolactin in the blood, which is a protein hormone and is responsible for stimulating milk production, is reduced by 50% when smoking.
- If there are people in the house who smoke, then in these families children have an increased risk of such diseases: bronchitis, sudden infant mortality syndrome and pneumonia.
- Children whose parents smoke are most likely to become smokers themselves in the future. Also, if father and mother smoke in the house, this can double the risk of lung cancer in the baby in the future.
- It has been proven that the health status of 45% of infants fed by smoking mothers was characterized by colic (3-4 hours of heavy crying), compared with 28% of infants breast-fed by non-smoking mothers. However, the relationship between colic and smoking is also observed with artificial feeding of the child. Studies have shown that colic is a kind of migraine in children, and it does not matter if mom or someone else smokes in the house, colic in these children is much more common, since cigarette smoke is an irritant for a child.
- Toxins from cigarette smoke affect the baby’s intestines, causing pain and anxiety. The poison also damages the upper parts of the digestive tract - the child often burps, eats less and, therefore, gains weight poorly.
- Researchers have also suggested that breast milk promotes brain development and helps counteract the adverse effects of cigarette smoking during pregnancy.
Specialist advice
If we turn to the judgment of Yevgeny Komarovsky about smoking while breastfeeding, then he believes that if a nursing mother understands that smoking is bad, but can not quit this bad habit, then it is necessary to limit the amount of nicotine received in milk. First, the mother needs to smoke cigarettes with a minimum nicotine content and do this as little as possible. After all, there are no medicines and vitamins that could neutralize the effects of nicotine, otherwise all smokers would use these saving pills. Also, additional and necessary actions are for the child to eat well, breathe a lot of fresh air. If all the recommendations are followed, the danger of nicotine will be minimal. Regarding feeding - better than mother's milk, nothing still exists for the baby.
Nicotine substitutes
Smokers' blood nicotine level (more than 21 cigarettes per day) is about 43 nanograms per milliliter, while the same level in most nicotine substitutes is an average of 16 nanograms per milliliter. Thus, when using nicotine gum, the level of nicotine in breast milk, on average, is 55% less than those who smoke cigarettes. However, at the same time, the patch creates a constant and at the same time lower level of nicotine in the plasma, in contrast to nicotine gum, as it can lead to greater variations in the level of nicotine contained in the plasma. That is, when such chewing gum is chewed quickly, then nicotine enters the bloodstream in the same amount as when smoking a cigarette. Doctors recommend that mothers who wish to use these nicotine gum and breastfeed should not feed the baby for 2-3 hours after using this gum.
Tips and tricks for smoking moms
- If you have the willpower and, most importantly, the desire to have a healthy child, then stop smoking at all!
- If that doesn't work, then try to minimize the amount of cigarettes you consume per day. Research scientists recommend smoking a maximum of 5 cigarettes per day.
- Smoke immediately after breastfeeding, that is, try to make sure that the time from smoking to the next feeding passes as much as possible, so that the blood is cleansed of nicotine to some extent, thereby minimizing the harm of smoking during breastfeeding . For example, for at least half of the nicotine to be eliminated from your body, it will take 1.5 hours.
- Do not smoke indoors with the baby, since secondhand smoke is much worse than breast-feeding a mother who smokes. Smoke better on the street, away from your child, and do not allow anyone to smoke near your child.
- Do not smoke between 9pm and 9am. Since during this period, the harm from smoking during breastfeeding is more dangerous due to the fact that smoking at night also increases the risk of sudden infant mortality syndrome (SIDS).
- In order for harmful substances to be excreted faster from the body, it is necessary to use as much fluid as possible.
- Change clothes after smoking, wash your hands well from tobacco smell. Be sure to thoroughly brush your teeth.
- Particular attention must be paid to proper nutrition. Try to eat nutritious and mineral-rich foods and consume the necessary vitamins.
How to quit smoking?
If you are a mother who smokes and breastfeeds, then you need to think about this problem. In order to wean yourself from this bad habit, it’s enough to write a list of positive facts that you will receive when you give up cigarettes. It can be anything, for example, improving your health and the health of the child, the ability to play sports, saving money and much more. First of all, it is you who should become a good example for your children, since the child, looking at his parents, will also build his personal life.
Output
According to reviews about smoking during breastfeeding, we can conclude that if you have a choice between two options, namely: quit feeding and smoking, because you can not quit smoking, or breast-feeding and smoking. Then you should always remember that, firstly, every month breastfeeding as a percentage reduces the risk of a woman having ovarian cancer and breast cancer. Secondly, if you decide to smoke and not breast-feed your baby, then a baby who is breast-fed will significantly increase the risk of infections, respiratory illnesses, allergies, asthma, and attention deficit disorder than children who continue to breast-feed their smoking mothers.
And remember that always the best option, in the case of smoking, is breastfeeding than feeding with breast milk substitutes. Because of the unique value of breast milk, which can more than compensate for the harmful effects of smoking, at least when compared to artificial feeding.