smoking while breastfeeding

[mummycloud]

Hi Ladies :)
I need your opinion, we have all been told that breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS, but we have also been told that smoking INCREASES the risk.
So, if you smoke, should you bottlefeed, or does breastfeeding outway risks of putting nicotine in your babies system?

I feel that it would be better to bottlefeed than to give nicotine laced breastmilk.

[JanetF]

Perhaps you could give up smoking? It's passive smoking that children are exposed to in the chemicals present on breath and skin, not just in breastmilk that affects them so if you ff not only will they miss out on the appropriate nutrition, but they'll still be getting the nasties in their system anyway. Give up and your health, your children's health and the family budget are all winners. Smoking is also a no no for cosleeping because of that chemical load.

[mummycloud]

Oh I don't smoke and I get really on edge when people breath near my baby after having one. My dh smokes (outside) and I don't let him near the baby till he has washed his hands, brushed his teeth and changed his clothes, even then I can smell the smoke on bubs and change his clothes too.
My family and friends think I go overboard, but I am so worried about SIDS.
I have a friend who breastfeed because she wanted the best for her baby, which is great, but she smoked :( I think the baby would have benn better off bottlefed and her mum wash her hands and teeth etc before handeling her baby, that's what I would have done if I couldn't quit, which I did within a week of finding out I was preggas.
I'm so glad I was able to quit this time, last time I had a really hard time trying and I had a small for date baby who couldn't hold her temp on her own and ended up in the special care nursery. It was a huge wake up call for me.

[JanetF]

It's a really hard one, I think, given how hard it is to give up smoking. And for some women pregnancy can be very stressful. The benefits to giving up are so great though, it seems to be worth it to me :) SIDS is complex and we don't really understand it. There are lots of interesting studies that show more bf and more cosleeping reduce SIDS rates.

[AM]

i just looked up Kellymom to see what she has to say about it, and here is the link to the article.

http://www.kellymom.com/health/lifestyle/smoking.html

In short, the verdict was that it is better to bf and smoke, than to formula feed and smoke.

[mummycloud]

Thanks for the link Angie, it's very informative :)

[Mumof2+1]

Thanks for the info.
I am a smoker against my best efforts to stop, at the moment I just can't seem to be able to. I Bf but was really worried about this. I do wash my hands, brush teeth and change clothes though. Although I cut down when I was pregnant I could never completely kick it and my bubs weighed 8lb 3.5oz, 9lb 1oz and my last bub who I smoked the least with, weighed 6lb 14oz.
Would dearly love to stop.
Just a word of warning to smoking mums. If you can't give up before falling pregnant or early in your pregnancy then I was told you shouldn't give up totaly as your baby could have withdrawl and you could miscarry. It is better if you gradually reduce the amount you smoke. I am not saying this because I'm a smoker. I was told this from a number of different Doctors and midwives.
Obviously it's best if you can quit before falling pregnant.

Trish
Taylah 8yrs
Jacob 6yrs
Ellah 17weeks

[mummycloud]

I know just how hard it is to stop Trish (((HUGS))) you know that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, so quitting would reduce that risk.

They say it's most harmful to smoke after 16 gestation, so that's plenty of time to cut down.
If you can't quit, then cutting down is better than nothing.
I occasionaly have a couple of puffs of DH smokes (around once a week at the max) and everytime, I feel guilty as hell for it. I always shower straight after and change my clothes and pray that I don't have to feed Aiden for 3 hours, because it takes that long for the nicotine to leave the system.

It's weird because I must not be addicted to nicotine if I can go a week or more without one, but occasioanly I just HAVE to have one. :confused: