Smoking while breastfeeding: 6 rules that a smoking mom needs to know

To begin with, we will determine the source of such a controversial statement. Doctors around the world are unanimous in the opinion that for a child the best nutrition in the first 6 months of life is breast milk. The use of any of the highest quality mixtures is undesirable if the mother has the ability to feed the baby herself.

Moreover, women who smoked during pregnancy have weak, painful, often premature babies. For them, breast milk is a real panacea for normal growth and development, and therefore has a great effect on breast milk. And if such a baby is transferred to artificial feeding for the sake of his "safety" from a cigarette, the harm will be ten times greater than when combining a negative habit and breastfeeding.

4 myths about a cigarette during lactation. What can happen if you smoke with gv

1. Milk neutralizes toxins and poisons of tobacco smoke. This is not true. Breastfeeding and smoking nourishes the baby's body with the full range of toxic substances that his mother receives. The main source is, of course, milk. Additionally, the baby receives poison from the air if her parents smoke at home, and from her mother’s hands if she does not wash them after a smoke break.
2. Nicotine “decomposes” in the mother’s body and does not pose a threat to the child. Does nicotine pass into breast milk? Yes. Does the baby harm? Definitely. The poison and antipsychotic drug cause the same spasm of blood vessels in the body of the crumbs as in the mother's body. This provides a load on the cardiovascular system, the occurrence of meteosensitivity of the child, excessive excitability, tearfulness, sleep disturbances. If you want to spend long sleepless nights, shaking the baby in her arms, smoke to health.
3. Smoking while breastfeeding does not affect the volume of milk. Even as it affects. Nicotine inhibits the activity of the hormone prolactin, which is responsible for lactation. As a result, the level of lactation drops by 25%. This is especially evident if smoking and feeding the baby are combined already in the first days after childbirth, when the basis of lactation is formed - the required hormonal background in the mother's body.
4. Milk smoking mom is no different from normal. This is not true again. The taste of breast milk is deteriorating, it acquires a specific smell. Due to the harsh taste and unpleasant stench, babies often throw their breasts in the first months of life.

The danger of smoking for a child

Why is smoking so harmful for breast milk? How smoking affects breast milk, we have already figured out. Now consider the harm it brings to the child.

• Nicotine is exciting. Smoking and breastfeeding lead to impaired sleep of the child, nervousness, moodiness.
• Smoking while breastfeeding is the cause of the sudden death of newborns. The risk increases 5 times in families where both parents smoke, and 3 times where only the mother smokes.
• Children are more prone to viral, colds. The immunity of such crumbs is significantly lower than that of other children. They often get sick in early childhood and at school.
• Intestinal colic is more acute. Toxins from cigarette smoke alter the infant's intestinal motility, which causes pain and anxiety.They also harm the upper gastrointestinal tract - the baby often spits up, eat less, and gain weight poorly.
• Kids are lagging behind in development. This is especially noticeable in children whose mothers did not leave a bad habit during pregnancy. In early childhood, the crumbs later stand on their feet, they say worse. At school they lag behind their peers, they study poorly.

Is it possible to combine motherhood and cigarettes?

No adequate doctor will answer you positively to this question. But if the addiction outweighs the care for your own child for you, do at least everything possible so that smoking while breastfeeding does as little harm to the baby.

• Never smoke with a child and in an apartment. Do this only on the street, preventing the penetration of tobacco smoke into the room.
• Change the usual cigarette to electronic. Her harm is somewhat smaller, but the sensations are the same.
• After a break, feed no earlier than 2 hours. Penetration of toxins into milk occurs within 60 minutes. About the same amount is needed to remove their lion's share of milk. Accordingly, you need to light a cigarette as soon as possible after feeding, and do not apply to it until the next.
• Do not smoke at night from 9 pm to 9 am. This is the period of maximum activity of prolactin, which is responsible for the presence of milk in the mother’s breast.
• Drink as much liquid as possible. 2 liters of water per day will reduce the dose of toxins in your chest.
• Eat fully. The destruction of vitamin C by nicotine and other beneficial substances can only be compensated by their additional intake.

And the main advice: reduce the number of cigarettes per day to a minimum. There should be no more than 5, and better - not a single one at all! So you give your child the happiness of a healthy life.