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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think drugs and breastfeeding don't go well together.

145 replies

Sushipaws · 30/01/2008 22:14

Now, I'm not a prude, each to thier own, I don't care if people want to get wrecked at the weekend, many of my friends do. But.....

I have just got off the phone to my mate who was out at the weekend with a girl I know. The girl had a ds about 5 months ago and moved away to be nearer her parents. She was up visiting for the weekend and had left ds with her husband. They went out on Friday and Saturday night. On the Friday night she took E and Coke but said she couldn't on the Saturday night as it wouldn't be out her system by the time she bf her ds on Sunday night.

I was really shocked, surely it takes longer than one night to leave her blood stream. I told my mate I thought the girl was an idiot and very selfish. My mate said I was over reacting and she knows a few mum's who have bf and occationally taken drugs.

Some expert advice needed here, would it still be in her system?

OP posts:
colditz · 31/01/2008 21:55

gosh, how very selfish.

It is selfish to deliberately do dangerous things when someone helpless is relying on you.

colditz · 31/01/2008 21:59

Cocaine remains detectable in the bloodstream (and therefore the mother's milk supply) for up to 72 hours.

so, she is sparing the baby the first 12 hour whack of it ... but the poor little thing is then receiving cocaine tainted milk for up to 60 hours after that.

Ideal

AbbeyA · 31/01/2008 22:18

I am amazed at the relaxed attitude to drug taking! Calling them 'recreational drugs'makes it sound as if it is normal and reasonable thing to do! Cocaine is illegal and addictive, lives are ruined in the production and smuggling of it.People are getting rich on other people's misery.Babies and drugs do not mix-to try and make out that they do is very selfish.

colditz · 31/01/2008 22:34

Aren't babies whose mothers use cocaine usually referred to as 'crack babies'?

colditz · 31/01/2008 22:36

do not read if easily upset - involves a 5 month old baby

twelveyeargap · 31/01/2008 22:41

No, that would be babies whose mothers use crack cocaine, which is more or less, instantly addictive and which is different to the cocaine the OP is talking about.

Neither should be taken whilst pg or breastfeeding, obviously, but crack is infinitely worse and tbh, a crack addict whilst still using, is unlikely to have the state of mind or bodily health to establish breastfeeding. The use of crack would possibly do less damage in itself to the baby, than the severe malnutrition of the mother which most chronic crack addicts will be victim to, due to their addiction.

BITCAT · 31/01/2008 22:50

colditz have read it, it reinforces what i thought to start of with illegal drugs bad bad bad, even worse when you have child that you are supposed to be responsible for and will be for the next 18yrs or so. There is no place for illegal drugs in a parents life whether bf or not, life before baby has to take a back seat and truly selfish to do otherwise. Most parents would put there children above anything else, in my eyes it's unacceptable and i would have no hesitation in reporting any parent i knew was doing this!!!

colditz · 31/01/2008 22:53

yes, crack cocaine has added baking soda - I'm sure that COMPLETELY ALTERS the chemical composition, and without the baking powder, cocaine is merely comparable to a light campari and soda

mcnoodle · 31/01/2008 23:03

I don't think sensational stories about 'crack babies' and extreme addiction to heroin/coke are responsible or relevant to the OP.

I completely agree with Fio and Berolina.

Whatever your previous lifestyle, it would be good to see parents being parents and giving that up to focus on loving their new baby.

Frankly, I just could not be arsed - far too much in love to mask the feelings with drugs. Although the odd spliff now and then does wonders IMO...

BITCAT · 31/01/2008 23:10

Strikes me as strange if i was to say i feed my child burger and chips everynight, with glass of coca cola i would recieve a torrent of abuse, but a parent taking an E and coke doesn't seem to have made anyone angry apart from me and a minority of others!!

mcnoodle · 31/01/2008 23:18

Thing is...you can be a really good parent, day in, day out. Lots of love, good food, plenty of fun and learning, stimulating activities, routine, lots of sleep, clean clothes, and lots of love (again). And then, once every six months you can go out, take some recreational drugs, leave your child with responsible adults, and have some pure, unadulterated FUN. You go home the next day and pick up where you left off - roast dinner, watch a DVD, do a puzzle, go for a walk in the country.

Occassional, recreational drug use is NOT a reason to call social services, if all the other factors that make up good parenting are in place.

And I speak as someone who no longer takes drugs. I won't condemn good parents who do (occassionally).

mcnoodle · 31/01/2008 23:20

Or even occasional

Or is it ocassional

Or occassionnnnnnallllll

Time for bed

mcnoodle · 31/01/2008 23:22

And BITCAT, if you did feed your child burger, chips and coke every night then, yes, I would consider that to be potentially more harmful than a parent who indulged in the odd escapist line of coke.

Takes all sorts to make a world.

notjustmom · 31/01/2008 23:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

newyorkdolls · 31/01/2008 23:48

At Dh's work, they had a bloke come to talk to them about drugs and alcohol and work. The lads were told if they were occasional users then weed would take 4/7 days to clear your system but most class A's ie E and Coke takes 48 hrs to disperse, but if you were a regular user it takes a minimum of three weeks.

AbbeyA · 01/02/2008 07:16

I wouldn't take drugs even if I wasn't a mother-I would be too frightened of the long term damage of chemically altering my brain; however to bring another being into the world and persist in taking hard drugs is selfish and irresponsible IMO. What happens when your DC is a teenager-do you give them money for the drug dealer?-or are there going to be 2 rules, one for you and a different one for them. I don't ask my DCs to do anything I don't, they would soon expose it as hypocritical.I would imagine most drug addicts started because 'they wouldn't get addicted'. However much you dress it up as being fun and glamorous it is all very seedy. You should be able to have a night out without resorting to a chemically induced mood.I only got onto this thread because I was so shocked at the casual way that illegal drug taking is parcelled up as a normal fun activity.Anyone who can spend over a £1000 a month on cocaine has got a problem(however much they like to dress it up). If I had that much money spare I would rather give it to a good cause-I certainly wouldn't line the pockets of a Columbian drug baron!Perhaps I should keep quiet as I expect people will get cross with me-I just naively imagined that mothers with babies would not be taking cocaine!

mumzyof2 · 01/02/2008 09:26

FWIW - I have to say, it IS a dangerous path to go down. If you dont find Coke addictive, it is STILL extremely morish. It is hard just to have two lines on a night out - hence my £15K spree on the damn stuff a couple of years ago - although I would never EVER take an E since having dc. I never would. Its too dangerous. Mp dp has done a lot of drugs since he was about 13. Hes done all the dugs you can think of, including crack, and plenty of medication drugs too. He ony smokes weed now, but to think of the path he went down from smoking weed, doing coke, to smoking crack, is frightening! He only did it a couple of times about ten years ago, ubt if he hadnt had the sense to stop, he'd probably be dead now.

mumzyof2 · 01/02/2008 09:28

Yes sushi paws, a very blurry few months. And I'll regret it forever, as the huge lump sum my dp was left, was eaten up by drugs. We only had £30 left to put down on a house.

sprogger · 01/02/2008 09:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FioFio · 01/02/2008 10:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

mumzyof2 · 01/02/2008 11:09

No, but Im pretty sure I am in the minority FF of people that have tried coke, and spent that much in such a short space of time. By saying that, I didnt mean that everyone would spend that much!

LadyVictorianSqualor · 01/02/2008 11:26

Ok, so most of us agree that doing drugs as a parent isn't the best idea, I'm sure even those who don't agree think that doing drugs and breastfeeding isn't ideal.

But wasn't the whole point of the OP that a mother that IS taking drugs 'recreationally' beleives that after 24 hours her milk will be ok to feed her baby?

Surely the woman taking the drugs needs to know how long it can affect her baby for and will hopefully make a decision to not feed baby in that time, or preferably stop taking it altogether.

twelveyeargap · 01/02/2008 11:30

Agree, it would be good if someone could tell her that it could still be in her breastmilk for 72 hours.

NotQuiteCockney · 01/02/2008 11:38

I've known a lot of people who have done coke from time to time, without becoming addicted.

Crack babies are babies born to women who were doing crack while pregnant.

Crack isn't that different to coke, but the delivery mechanism is faster, so it's much easier to be addicted.

dingdong05 · 01/02/2008 11:42

It looks as though legal drugs are acceptable but illegal drugs aren't....

I remember phoning my hv before I went out on a big boozy night when my ds was a couple of months old and asked how much I'd need to pump and throw away and when it comes out in the milk. She was a bit puzzled but said if I felt I had to I should pump the morning after then carry on as before, and we all know that alcohol says in the system into the next day (I was expecting to get trolleyed but ended up falling asleep after 2 drinks )