Breastfeeding And Smoking

Breastfeeding gives babies much immunity like the ability to fight various illnesses. On the other hand, breastfeeding and smoking rarely mix. It is dangerous and unhealthy for a woman who breastfeed to smoke. Admittedly, it has been found out that smoking is responsible for many infections affecting breastfeeding babies of smoking mothers. In fact, even passive smoking causes negative effects to the immune systems of babies. Breast milk even have the taste of cigarettes if you breastfeed the baby within an hour after smoking. Try to stop smoking if you want to breastfeed. If you had quit smoking when you were pregnant, continue to do so.

Dangers Of Breastfeeding And Smoking

• Heavy smoking reduces mother’s milk supply, as the prolactin in the bloodstream is decreased by nicotine. The nicotine levels will be high in breast milk, as well as in the blood stream of mothers. The body converts nicotine to cotinine and its level is very high in breastfeeding babies of smoking mothers, when compared with babies who have been formula fed by smoking mothers.
• If a mother smokes just before breastfeeding, she will be putting her baby in a very risky situation.
• The baby suffers from conditions like nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea.
• Babies inhaling smoke have suffered serious consequences like their development being stunted or delayed.
• Breastfeeding and smoking diminishes the resistance of the baby to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
• As the iodine transfer to breast milk is lowered by nicotine, babies are susceptible to thyroid infections
• According to scientific evidence, smoking can result in early weaning.
• Smoking habit, while breastfeeding can cause the baby to suffer from colic pains.
• It has been found that babies who had been breastfed by mothers with smoking habits are relatively fussier than the other babies.
• Babies who breathe in smoke have contracted respiratory illness.

Minimizing The Danger

Mothers, who are addicted to smoking, will find it very difficult and even impossible to stop smoking. This does not mean that you should not breastfeed your baby. Although smoking is not good for the baby, it is better for babies to wean early rather than brought up without any breastfeeding. Despite your smoking habit, you can minimize the effect of smoking when you breastfeed the baby. First of all, you have to be aware of the dangers inherent in smoking, when you breastfeed. Furthermore, to ensure that breastfeeding and smoking go hand-in-hand with as less risk as possible to the baby:

• Smoke after you have finished breastfeeding. Even about two hours after smoking there will be half of the nicotine in your blood.  So try to reduce the effect of nicotine as much as possible.
• Smoke fewer cigarettes, less than twenty in a day.
• Absolutely no smoking while breastfeeding.
• Do not ever smoke in the presence of any babies. Try to keep your smoking confined to a room, where you must not take your baby.
• Better to use nicotine patches, and then babies will not inhale smoke.