Of the women who quit smoking during pregnancy in a conscious effort to protect their developing babies, 70 to 85 percent of them return to smoking after giving birth, according to a report published in the "Journal of the American Board of Family Practice." It's no secret that smoking is detrimental to your health and the health of those around you. If you're a nursing mother who smokes, you should be aware of how you can minimize the effect your habit has on your baby.
Secondhand Smoke
Whether a baby is breastfed or bottle fed in the first year of life, breathing in secondhand smoke increases the occurrence of ear infections, asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, cancer and SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, according to La Leche League International. Experts at La Leche League and the American Academy of Pediatrics agree that you should smoke outside your home to limit secondhand smoke exposure, and never smoke while nursing. A research project by San Diego State University published in "Tobacco Control" notes, however, that even if you smoke away from your baby, nicotine and other cigarette chemicals still cling to your clothes and seep from your skin, making it more than likely that you'll contaminate your home even if you smoke outside.
Cigarettes and Breastmilk
Nicotine is one of 3,800 components in cigarettes that makes its way into breast milk when you smoke. Nicotine can cause agitation, fussiness, restlessness and an increased heart rate in your baby. Smoking is also associated with a reduced milk supply, early weaning and the prevention of the milk ejection reflex. Smoking can also reduce the amount of iodine that makes its way into your milk, putting your baby at greater risk of developmental brain problems. Smoking more than 20 cigarettes per day is considered heavy smoking and has been linked to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps in breastfed babies. The nicotine in your breast milk poses a considerably lesser risk to your baby, according to La Leche League, if you smoke less than 20 cigarettes per day.
Benefits of Nursing
Breast milk offers babies certain health protections that bottle feeding does not, even if the nursing mother is a smoker. In households with smokers, bottle-fed babies have higher occurrences of respiratory illnesses than breast-fed babies, including pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma. Breast-feeding is widely considered to reduce a baby's risk of SIDS. That protection is somewhat diminished for breast-fed babies of mothers who smoke. However, bottle-fed babies who are regularly exposed to cigarette smoke don't have any extra protection against SIDS and are therefore at even greater risk.
Minimizing Exposure
After smoking a cigarette, the amount of nicotine in your breast milk increases immediately and then decreases over time. It takes 95 minutes for your body to eliminate half the amount of nicotine that's in it. To minimize your baby's exposure to nicotine and other toxic byproducts in your milk, avoid smoking right before nursing. It's better to smoke immediately after nursing, when you have more time available for the nicotine levels to diminish before the next feeding. Smoking as little as possible can reduce your baby's overall risk of health problems related to smoking. Smoke outside and never smoke near your baby, or while nursing. If you use nicotine patches or gum in an attempt to quit, don't smoke cigarettes simultaneously --- replacement products also contaminate breast milk with nicotine.
