smoking weed during pregnancy

[spikeyd]

a friend of many years has just told me she is 16 weeks pregnant with her first child and will contine to smoke 2 spliffs a day.............is this right?

[KittieCat]

Nope, far from it.

[Booyhoo]

do you mean morally right or legally right?

[Nicknamegrief]

Not in my opinion and many health care professionals either.

[geologygirl]

Of course not. After your friend has smoked and feels high as a kite, just imagine how poor baby will be feeling in there....

[spikeyd]

what can I do to make her stop? she's smoked it for years.........

[spikeyd]

every shade of "right" really.......I am not maternal at all or indeed in the business of telling peeps what to do but just feel really uncomfrtable about it. she's had loads of therapy and says weed keeps her grounded.

[geologygirl]

Well you can tell her but at the end of the day its down to her to put her needs second and do what's right for baby....its called being a parent! ;-)

[Booyhoo]

best you could do would be to find some facts about the risks to baby and give them to her.

[spikeyd]

just emailed "ask frank" - any other suggestions please and thank you?

[spikeyd]

she has told me she adores me being her friend cos she feels she has made many mistakes thru her life and continues to do so but I never judge or tell her off just encourage her to keep going forward. so now for the first time I am in a position where I may be doing the opposite of that and I dont know how to approach it. she is v fragile (stating the obs, maybe!)

[erowid]

A friend of mine continued to use marijuana whilst she was pregnant but she used it in edibles rather than smoking it and cut down her usage.

She told me that she had done some online research and apparently asked her American relative (who is a health professional and also pro-medical marijuana use) what her opinion would be. To which her relative told her that edibles would be only marginally less harmful than smoking it. For what its worth, she was fit, healthy and responsible in every other way during her pregnancy and she went on to have a healthy baby boy who is now a very bright 5 year old.

Ultimately I was concerned for her and the child but it was her pregnancy and I wasn't going to tell her to stop. However, I was prepared to listen to her reasons why she thought it was ok.

[CheerfulYank]

DH's friend's girlfriend smoked both pot and cigarettes when she got pregnant...her doctor told her if she couldn't stop both, then pot was far better for the baby.

I also remember reading this article years ago.

I wouldn't personally do it.

[lauriedriver]

& there's some of us who would give anything to bring a baby into a happy, healthy, loving home. It beggars belief how selfish your friend is

[nellyjelly]

Unbelievable. It will cross the placenta and potentially damage the brain. Stupid woman.

[FergusSingsTheBlues]

My friend smoked dope all the way through ye oregnancy. Baby born with heart defect. We dont know if ths is related but she feels wretched. Not worth it.

[PandaWatch]

A family member did this, using the "sometimes the stress of giving up is more harmful" argument. She wasn't even a heavy user and just enjoyed it but this was a good excuse for her. The crazy thing was she wouldn't touch a drop of alcohol or caffeine whilst pregnant and got a bit high and mighty about people who do

I was absolutely stunned but she's an intelligent person so I didn't see the point in getting into a debate about it with her as I wouldn't be telling her anything she didn't already know.

It's amazing what some people can convince themselves of for their own selfish reasons.

[Kilkers]

I assume she will keep smoking weed after the birth too, so potentially she will be home alone with the baby and stoned out of her box? Disgusting, people get reported to social services for much less.

[ReikiMummy]

Erowid I have heard several people and spoken with lots of people also who have this opinion too - worldwide, not just from the States or in the UK.

Not advocating the use of it or otherwise, just thought another viewpoint worthwhile.

FWIW, I think have as many facts as you can, and not just from "Ask Frank" which is government sponsored. And in various places has more than a few holes in their knowledge.

I am more than aware this will probably cause a whole load of flack to come back at me for posting this. Again - I am neither advocating its use or condemning it. Just have all the facts so you can be fully aware of all the risks, and what you would consider an acceptable risk for you / your child.



If someone has been a pot-smoker for years then actually the stress the parent would go through during pregnancy in stopping smoking could cause more stress to the baby and them than if they continued to smoke it (even at a reduced rate).

My opinion - get as many facts as you can and then make up your own mind as to what its best for you / your child.

I've seen so many pregnancies where friendships have been trounced because of issues like this. EVERYONE is entitled to their viewpoint, but not everyone is entitled to make decisions on behalf of their friends. The choice the OP has here is not "How do I get my friend to stop smoking pot as I don't think its right", but actually - "How do I get my concerns over to my friend in a way that puts my point across, but lets her make her own choice in this?".

If you feel this strongly enough to stop being her friend because she doesn't agree with your point of view - there is your answer.

Help her have ALL the facts with this so she can make an educated decision rather than a possibly knee-jerk rebellious decision.


Other viewpoints and links are available

Cannabis-use-in-pregnancy



There are also many links out there that show it is Neuro-protective -that is, it can protect the brain rather than damage it.

Neuro-protective

Fox

NCBI


My background with this subject:-
Yes - I know A LOT about this subject, through personal relationships and also working relationships with clients.
No - I haven't smoked this myself during pregnancy.
Yes - I have had it in the past. Whilst I can see the benefits of it for medical use etc, its not really something I like all that much.

sits and waits for the flack...

[Mixxy]

I would worry so much about while pregnant, that's debatable until the cows come home. I'd worry about her plan to quit smoking two a day when the baby is born. If he finds life difficult now, boy is she going to be in for a surprise.

[FergusSingsTheBlues]

Its the psychactive component that would bother me the most.....alcohol too, although i have drunk this pregnancy, never more than about 50 mls at a time with a meal....

I think in comparison, the odd fag would be far more preferable.

[glossyflower]

My friends sister recently had a baby boy, and she smoked weed and drank alcohol throughout her pregnancy.
Baby born fine apart from dry wrinkly skin that looked like he didn't fit in his body (I believe common with smokers).
As for long term effects we don't know, but I think it's incredibly selfish and mother to be is putting her needs before the child's.
Very sad.

[glossyflower]

... Also after reading some other posts, I think you should make your views to mum to be clear, but at the end of the day it her choice and her baby. Once baby gets here and she's neglecting it for wanting to get high then I would report her to social services

[spikeyd]

many thanks to everyone for their responses sighs but I would think seriously about reporting her if it all got out of hand...........

[ErikNorseman]

There is no actual research suggesting that there are negative effects of cannabis on the foetus. I'm not saying it's fine, common sense tells us that drugs that affect the mother may affect the foetus, but you won't find anything definitive to hit her with.

I do not understand the idea that stopping smoking, whether tobacco or cannabis, is harmful for the foetus. Physically, it's not at all stressful (I mean in the literal sense, for eg in the way stopping heroin is) and psychological stress is an arguable factor. Known risks such as lung problems, SIDS and low birthweight outweigh vague, unspecified risks of 'stress' to the baby.

[ErikNorseman]

And please don't worry about social services, smoking cannabis is categorically not an activity that would meet the threshold for social services intervention.