Why You Should Not Smoke While Breastfeeding

We all know that smoking is bad for anyone’s health. There have been many studies showing the adverse affects that smoking can have on people, not only those who are smoking themselves, but those affected by secondhand smoke as well. This is also very pertinent when speaking about secondhand smoking affecting babies, not only by being in the same room as the smoke, but also by a mother smoking while breastfeeding her child.

If you carry on smoking with your child in the room, there is a very harmful effect of secondhand smoke to your baby. He or she will be exposed to the harmful smoke and could develop many issues including asthma, bronchial problems, lung cancer and other lung diseases. The harmful effects of smoke to adults are also incredibly harmful to small babies, as they don’t have the same hearty immune systems as adults and can be affected with far greater repercussions. Babies can also be subject to eye irritation from the smoke.

There is evidence that nicotine can be transferred to the baby through breast milk when a mother chooses to continue smoking while breastfeeding (or resume smoking if she has chosen to stop smoking while pregnant). The baby is then exposed to nicotine, which is one of the harmful elements in cigarettes. The baby is subject to amounts of nicotine that can be harmful. You should realize that your baby is getting all the benefits from your good health that breast milk can provide; they will be receiving immune boosting colostrum, and nutrients that are found in your diet that you pass on in breast milk. Just as when you have a poor diet, your breast milk nutrition suffers, if you introduce foreign substances like nicotine from smoking, this will also be a detriment to how nutritious and healthy your breast milk is, and can affect your baby.

The importance of not smoking while you are breastfeeding is a large one. You want your baby to be as healthy as possible in the first few months and years of his or her development, and nicotine and smoking is not healthy at all. You should avoid both smoking around your baby, and having those substances you intake while smoking in your breast milk that you feed your baby. Your baby is adversely affected by both practices, and you want to keep both yourself and your baby as healthy as possible when they are in their early developmental stages.

https://pregnancyready.com/why-you-should-not-smoke-while-breastfeeding/