Smoke cannot pass via breast milk to your baby. However, nicotine and other chemicals in cigarette smoke certainly travel via the breast milk to your baby. In addition, the smoke clings to your skin and clothing that can disturb your baby. There is evidence that breast milk offers protection to babies. A study showed that occurrence of respiratory conditions in infants who received breast milk from their smoking mothers was relatively lower than infants who received formula milk. Nonetheless, smoking while breastfeeding is harmful to your baby, therefore you need to cut it down, or better, to quit it!
Why Is Smoking While Breastfeeding Harmful?
If you smoke heavily throughout the day (one pack or even more), your baby will be enormously affected by it. Nicotine has the potential of interfering with the letdown reflex in your body and can decrease your production of milk or the normal weight gain in your baby. If you are in the habit of smoking fewer than 20 cigarettes daily, your baby will suffer fewer risks due to nicotine. Take a look at the potential risks if you are smoking while breastfeeding.
1. Decrease in Milk Quantity
Your supply of milk may get adversely affected if you are smoking while breastfeeding. Your baby might not get the amount he requires for gaining weight normally.
2. Decrease in Milk Quality
Your milk’s quality may be negatively affected as well. This can affect your child’s growth and their infection fighting ability. The chemicals in cigarette smoke reduce the quantity of minerals and iodine in the breast milk.
3. Behavioral Problems
Nicotine can cause your baby to cry more than usual for no apparent reason. If you breastfeed your baby right after smoking, they can have problems while sleeping.
4. Health Problems
Secondhand smoke is harmful to your baby’s health. It can cause asthma, lung or ear infections and the baby suffers from the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
5. Early Weaning
Studies have revealed that there is a direct relationship between breastfeeding and smoking. Women who smoke tend to wean off their babies from breastfeeding earlier than non-smoking mothers do. Smoking women have less drive to breastfeed.
How to Reduce the Harmful Effects of Smoking While Breastfeeding
Certain smoking mothers are of the opinion that it is relatively safer to feed their babies with formula milk instead of breast milk. However, studies have shown that the advantages of breastfeeding certainly outweigh the drawbacks of the cigarette smoke. Hence, it is better that you are smoking and breastfeeding rather than smoking and feeding infant formula to your baby. Of course, the best thing is to quit smoking when breastfeeding your baby. However, if you face difficulty in quitting smoking, you should try cutting down the quantity of cigarettes you smoke and focus on the following tips to minimize the harmful effects of smoking.
1. Smoke After Breastfeed
The nicotine level in breast milk becomes half after 97 minutes of smoking a cigarette. The longer the interval between breastfeeding and smoking is, the smaller amount of nicotine is transferred to your baby.
2. Smoke Away from Your Baby
Make sure to smoke as far away from your baby as possible. Also, do not allow anybody else to light up a cigarette near your kid.
3. Smoke and Clean Up
The cigarette smoke gets trapped in different parts of your body and clothing every time you smoke. You may not be able to wash and shower or change your clothes every time you smoke, but you could cover your clothes and hair with something or wear an outfit while you smoke so the smoke does not stick to you and then passes on to your baby. Make sure to brush your teeth and wash your arms and hands after smoking.
4. Get Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) is a good remedy to slowly quit smoking. It gives you the nicotine required by your body, but it does not harm you like the carbon monoxide, cyanide and tar contained in cigarette smoke does. The full course of NRT spans over eight to twelve weeks. As this method is safer than regular smoking, you can use it for longer periods if it aids you in stopping smoking.
Click here to learn more about smoking and pregnancy.