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The Issue of Smoking and Breastfeeding

Smoking is bad for your health overall, but when you are breastfeeding smoking will have even more dire effects because your baby is now receiving it as well. If you are not sure of the actual affects of smoking and breastfeeding, then there are several incredibly important factors that you should take into consideration.

What is the Problem With Smoking and Breastfeeding?

For one, in regards to smoking and breastfeeding, heavy smokers have been shown to have decreased milk production, due to the fact that they have lower levels of vitamin C in their milk. As well, their babies are at greater risk for such problems as colic, nausea, and diarrhea. Additionally, mothers whose infants are also exposed to second hand smoke are more at increased risk for such things as allergies, pneumonia, bronchitis, and even sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

In regards to smoking and breastfeeding, this has also been linked to early weaning, lowered milk production, as well as inhibition of the milk ejection process. Smoking and breastfeeding also lowers prolactin levels in the blood, and studies have even been done which show that cigarette smoking strongly and significantly reduces breast milk production at least two weeks postpartum from 514 milliliters a day in non-smokers to 406 milliliters per day in smoking mothers.

Smoking while breastfeeding has also been proven to lead to fussiness in the baby, as one study shows that 40 percent of babies that were breastfed by smokers were rated as colicky as compared with that of 26 percent of babies that were breastfed by non-smokers. Regardless of how the baby is fed, it is important to realize that parents should avoid exposing them to second-hand smoke by either smoking in another room or outside of the house entirely if possible.

However, it is important to realize that it is still recommended that you breastfeed, even if you are a smoker and either can’t or do not want to quit. This is because breastfeeding provides many of the immunities that will help your baby to fight off illness and can even help to counteract some of the effects of cigarette smoke on your baby.

For instance, breastfeeding has been shown to decrease the negative effects of cigarette smoke on a baby’s lungs, and therefore although it is obviously better if the mother quits and does not smoke at all, breastfeeding the baby is still highly recommended regardless, due to the multitude of benefits that arise from it.