Smoking while breastfeeding

introduction

Most people know that smoking can damage the health of the smoker in the long term.
So-called passive smoking, which affects the people around the smoker, should also be avoided as far as possible.

But even unborn babies in the womb are not spared from the harmful substances that are contained in every cigarette.
Therefore, smoking is strictly prohibited for expectant mothers during pregnancy.

But as a mother, is it still allowed to smoke while breastfeeding?
In the following you will get the answers to many questions about this topic.

Can you smoke while breastfeeding?

Breastfeeding is an important period in the life of the newborn child.
With breast milk, the child not only receives food and important nutrients, but also so-called loan immunity, also known as nest protection.
This nest protection is very important for a newborn because the child does not yet have its own fully developed immune system.
Breastfeeding is therefore generally only warmly recommended.

However, it is more difficult to give breastfeeding advice to smoking mothers.
A clear recommendation is of course to give up smoking during the entire breastfeeding period - and also afterwards.
One thing must therefore be said very clearly at this point: Smoking while breastfeeding is harmful to the child, but not breastfeeding is also harmful to the child.

In the difficult case that a mother does not want to give up smoking while breastfeeding, it is advisable to pay attention to a few things in order to make breastfeeding as safe as possible according to the circumstances.
Conscious smoking breaks before breastfeeding and reducing the number of cigarettes as much as possible improves the situation for the child enormously.
You should also never smoke while breastfeeding, as secondhand smoke poses an additional risk to the child

However, there are no uniform opinions on the breastfeeding situation of a smoking mother.
As a smoking mother you are allowed to breastfeed, but you have to be aware of the possible consequences for the child.
You should also take important measures, such as smoking breaks, before breastfeeding in order to keep the pollution for the child as low as possible.

The following article may be of interest to you: Breastfeeding- All You Need To Know

What can the consequences be for my baby?

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is a significant burden for the unborn child.
Most people understand that.
But what about maternal smoking while breastfeeding?

The effects of maternal smoking on the child during breastfeeding are nowhere near as well researched as during pregnancy.
However, it is known that smoking while breastfeeding has negative consequences for the child.

Children who are breastfed by smoking mothers show increased nausea, vomiting and even failure to thrive.
The children gain less weight in their first few months, although this is very important for proper development.
In addition, diseases of the respiratory tract, such as infections or asthma, can occur more frequently.

These negative consequences are further exacerbated by passive smoking.
Any long-term consequences, such as an increased risk of cancer, are not so easy to detect and predict.
However, it is an important fact that breast milk contaminated by smoking contains an increased concentration of carcinogenic substances.

How badly does smoking affect breast milk?

Breast milk is susceptible to some disruptive factors such as alcohol, nicotine or certain medications.
There are substances that are referred to as breast milk.
This means that they can pass through the tissue into the milk and are thus absorbed by the baby.
It has been proven that many substances contained in cigarettes are excreted in breast milk.
These include nicotine or carcinogenic substances such as dioxins, heavy metals or nitrosamines.

To a certain extent, the composition of breast milk is also influenced by environmental influences, as well as active and passive smoking by the mother in her previous life.
These pollutants are deposited in the maternal fat tissue and then pass into the milk during the milk production phase.

Active smoking during the breastfeeding phase additionally increases the concentration of these substances.
The composition of the milk of a mother who smokes while breastfeeding differs significantly from that of a non-smoker.

Weaning and breastfeeding despite smoking?

The recommendations for breastfeeding and smoking are not consistent.
Some recommend breastfeeding, while others argue more in favor of weaning.
Ultimately, the individual situation should be considered.
The more harmful substances there are in breast milk, the greater the risk that the child will ultimately be harmed by breastfeeding.

Especially mothers who consume drugs, alcohol, sleeping pills or sedatives in addition to smoking should refrain from breastfeeding and stop breastfeeding.
On the other hand, mothers who do not consume drugs, tablets and / or alcohol can breastfeed despite smoking if they observe certain things.
This includes regular smoking breaks immediately before breastfeeding and a strict no-smoking policy during the breastfeeding process.
In this case, there is no need to completely renounce breastfeeding.

Weaning, like the tobacco load in breast milk, can have negative consequences for the child.
The newborn lacks the so-called nest protection, which is the child's immune system at the beginning of life.
Therefore, it should be carefully considered whether weaning is necessary and useful.
This is most likely to be decided individually.

You can read about how to properly feed your baby during the first few years in our article: The baby's diet.

When should you smoke, when should you breastfeed?

Mothers who smoke should definitely refrain from smoking while breastfeeding.
Not only does smoking at this point stress the breast milk, it also stresses the child with the very dangerous secondhand smoke.

Furthermore, it is advisable to reduce the total number of cigarettes to a minimum if possible.
If you do smoke, you should take breaks before breastfeeding.
These smoking breaks must last at least an hour in order to improve the nicotine content of the breast milk.

Especially at the beginning of the breastfeeding period, frequent breaks must therefore be observed in order to meet this requirement.
A recommendation would therefore be to smoke immediately after breastfeeding.
Then the time interval to the next breastfeeding unit is greatest.

Also read our article: Problems during breastfeeding in the mother

Can expressing before smoking help?

Many mothers use a breast pump while breastfeeding.
Expressing milk not only creates independence, but also gives many mothers security through direct controls of the amount they drink.

Smokers can of course also express their milk and then offer it to their child.
It is advisable to express the milk before smoking, or at least one hour after smoking.
This can reduce the nicotine load in breast milk.

The longer the interval between smoking and expressing, the more beneficial it is to the quality of the milk.

How many cigarettes a day are acceptable?

When it comes to smoking while breastfeeding, there are no limits to the number of cigarettes that one can adhere to.
Every single cigarette already represents a burden for maternal and child health.
Therefore, no limit can be specified from which damage can be assumed.

It is also difficult to say that the greater the number of cigarettes, the greater the potential harm to the child.
One cigarette may be enough to have serious health consequences for the child.
Therefore a complete waiver is recommended.

However, if this is not possible for various reasons, it is of course still best to keep the number of cigarettes to a minimum. The higher the number of cigarettes, the more pollutants in milk will definitely increase and the likelihood of damage to the child's health increases.

However, it is important to understand that the same damage can occur with a comparatively low number of cigarettes, which is why not smoking would be the most sensible measure.

Is there a special diet to purify breast milk?

Many substances can pass into breast milk, which is why they are also referred to as breast milk.
Once they have passed over, there is unfortunately no way of removing them from breast milk.
Unfortunately, even a healthy or special diet cannot improve the pollution of breast milk.

The only way to influence the composition of breast milk with regard to its pollution is to avoid harmful substances such as alcohol, tobacco or drugs.