Can I smoke while breastfeeding?

Smoking is a scourge of planetary scale. This fact was recognized by many public and professional organizations. You can verify this by reviewing the WHO statistics. But the saddest thing is that in recent years there has been a clear tendency for a greater susceptibility to this harmful habit of the female population. If earlier, with the help of cigarettes, young men were established in the adult life, today young girls are ruining youth and health with nicotine.

But, probably, the most terrible thing is a young mother with a stroller, carelessly letting out cigarette smoke. Although adults and even very young children have heard about the dangers of smoking, let us try again to examine this problem in detail. True, we will do it from a slightly different position, namely, we will try to answer the question of how compatible smoking and breastfeeding are.

Disease or habit

If in everyday life smoking is considered a bad habit, then doctors associate this problem with pathological dependence. Moreover, the longer a person smokes, the harder it is for him to part with this dubious pleasure. Therefore, nursing mommy should seriously think about the damage that it can cause to the health of the child, smoking only one cigarette. After all, nicotine is extremely dangerous for a little man because of its high toxicity. The lethal dose of this harmful substance is only 1 mg per kilogram of adult weight.

For example, to stop the heart activity of a woman weighing 55 kilograms, it is enough to smoke about 55 cigarettes. And this is without taking into account the nicotine in tobacco smoke. But, besides nicotine, there is still a lot of life-threatening components in cigarettes. Scientists have found that every heavy smoker, paying tribute to the habit, deprives himself of 25-30 years of life.

Of course, not everyone has such a persistence of character that they can quit smoking at once. But if a nursing mother is not yet able to give up the addiction, she should at least follow the rules that can reduce the risks to the child.

What is the harm of tobacco products

Even the smallest children know about the negative effect of smoking on the human body, because the system of sanitary and educational work in the post-Soviet space is built, in principle, not bad. But at the same time, people continue to smoke, and representatives of the younger generation regularly join the ranks of smokers. It is regrettable, but among the fans of the "hellish" habits there are many pregnant women and nursing moms.

Knowing about the harmful effects of cigarettes on the emerging defenseless organism, they cannot, or may not, want to quit smoking, if only for a while. Therefore, it is probably worth recalling once again that each cigarette is a composition of deadly substances. In every cigarette there are such familiar substances:

1. Butane is a liquid filled with lighters.
2. Nicotine is a substance present in the composition of insecticidal preparations used to kill insects.
3. Stearic acid - it is added to the wax in the manufacture of candles.
4. Arsenic is the best known potent poison.
5. Cadmium is present in batteries.
6. Toluene is a technical solvent.

This is only a small part of the four thousand components that can be found in a single cigarette. And there is acetic acid, methanol and dyes.Probably should not continue the transfer of toxic substances entering during smoking in the body. And seven dozen agents out of 4 thousand are able to cause cancer.

But the most important thing is that a smoker not only voluntarily poisons his body, he endangers the lives of people around him. A smoking mother also slowly kills her own child, because an infant, at her whim, becomes a passive smoker. The kid has to inhale deadly substances, because he simply has no choice.

Effects of smoking

A nursing mother, who is not able to part with a cigarette, must know that within half an hour after taking her regular “tobacco dose”, nicotine enters the bloodstream. Then after a few more minutes, it is found in breast milk. Therefore, the quality of breast milk of smoking moms differs from the product that the children get, whose mothers are not susceptible to this addiction. These differences are expressed in the following:

1. In women who smoke, prolactin is produced in smaller quantities, hence the decrease in the amount of produced breast milk.
2. There are few vitamins in such milk, the number of useful enzymes is also reduced, but the most important thing is that there are practically no protective antibodies that the baby needs in the first year of life.

It is proved that children from smokers' families are much weaker, they often suffer from colds and asthma. Due to the fact that tobacco smoke has a negative effect on brain activity, such children are lagging behind in physical development, they do not absorb material well at school.

Smoking and women's health

Smoking adversely affects the health of the woman. During pregnancy, the resources of her body are depleted. Therefore, after the birth of the child, Mommy needs to recuperate and strengthen the nervous system. To do this, it needs a complete diet and a normal way of life. But, if instead of adherence to a healthy regime, a woman takes up a cigarette, then all those who have problems will only get worse.

Implications for the child

Due to the fact that nicotine freely enters the mother's milk, and then into the body of the baby, it begins to have a negative impact on the processes occurring in a tiny organism.The infant’s cardiovascular system is the first to be destroyed by the toxin. Nicotine causes various dysfunctions of the main organ, and the child may eventually develop heart failure. Entering a small body even in minimal doses, nicotine disrupts the normal heart rhythm, which subsequently manifests itself in various forms of arrhythmia, but tachycardia is more common in young children. For the body, the baby is an extremely dangerous phenomenon that carries a direct threat to his life.

But my mother's addiction to smoking makes not only a small heart suffer, these children also have the following disorders:

1. Sleep disturbance - due to the fact that nicotine destroys the nervous system of the baby, causing the child to become restless.
2. Weight loss, which is caused by a decrease in appetite and poor nutritional qualities of breast milk.
3. Predisposition to allergic manifestations - the baby's body reacts negatively to any new food product (a rash appears on the skin, other reactions are possible).
4. Dysfunctions on the part of the intestine make themselves felt by the increased formation of gases, constipation, and sometimes vomiting.
5. Frequent diseases of the upper respiratory tract and pneumonia are a familiar companion of children whose moms smoke.
6. The mental development of children also suffers, they lag behind their peers in many ways: they sit down later, start walking, talk

But this is not all the disastrous consequences of one bad habit. It has been scientifically proven that most of the children, whose mothers smoked during their carrying and feeding period, later also become chain smokers. In other words, these people still form nicotine addiction in infants. And, probably, the most monstrous result is a predisposition to oncological pathologies. The risk of sudden death in infancy is also more susceptible to children of smoking mothers.

Cigarettes and breast milk

Smoking causes enormous damage to the female body, which by nature itself is determined to bear and raise children. To reduce the danger can only be completely abandoning the pernicious "pleasure." There is no other, more convenient way.

Some women who are unable to quit smoking solve this problem by transferring the baby to artificial feeding. Of course, if you have to choose from two evils, then this is a less dangerous option. Although the baby, especially in the first six months of life, is in great need in breast milk, because it provides the immune capabilities of the child.

If the mother continues to combine smoking with feeding the baby, then her lactation will be reduced, and the breastfeeding period will last at best up to 4-6 months. In addition, breast milk, "flavored" with nicotine, has a characteristic bitter taste. Therefore, the baby often themselves refuse to poor-quality food in the first days after birth.

How to reduce risks

If a nursing woman is not able to give up smoking, then it is worth at least reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day. The following recommendations will help reduce the damaging effects of tobacco toxins:

1. The number of cigarettes should not exceed 5 pieces. Moreover, they should be smoked by day, because at night the process of production of breast milk is activated.
2. It is necessary to indulge in a bad habit after feeding the child, so that an interval of at least two hours remains until the next attachment to the breast.
3. It is strictly forbidden to smoke in the room where the baby is.
4. After smoking even a single cigarette, you must brush your teeth and wash your hands thoroughly.
5. To compensate for the loss of the body associated with a bad habit, mom will help high-calorie, vitamin-rich food.
6. For regular cleansing of the body, a smoking woman is obliged to drink more fluids.
7. Long walks with the baby in the fresh air will muffle the desire to smoke.

All of these recommendations only for the time being can change the situation for the better. For the sake of a healthy future of their baby, a nursing mother must gather all the will and stop smoking for good. After all, cigarettes are poison poisoning a defenseless child. And the main purpose of every mother is to protect her child from any danger.

Video: Smoking Breastfeeding