does nicoteen come through bm?

[gokfan]

not asking for me,iv never smoked,but my cousin is bf and still smokes and we were discussing this

sorry ment nicotine

kellymom answers and some others you haven't asked.

No, but breathing over her baby after she has had a cigarette does pass harmful chemicals to him.

Ah, I was too slow!

Breastfeeding while smoking, still carries more advantages for the baby than not breastfeeding. Your cousin's doing the right thing in continuing to bf her baby

it would be best if she could give up, but I expect she knows that

sorry i don't know the answer about nicotine, but I do know what put me off ever wanting to start again was reading that the breastmilk will taste of cigarettes and older babies sometimes refuse it - bleeeugh

Kellymom says yes it does:

"Smoke immediately after breastfeeding to cut down on the amount of nicotine in your milk during nursing. Wait as long as possible between smoking and nursing. It takes 95 minutes for half of the nicotine to be eliminated from your body."

I was always told that assuming you smoked outside and did not get close your baby when you were very smoky, that breastfeeding as F+Z said when smoking is still considered better.

but i think that co-sleeping is a nono?

i'd be really interested to know about smoking rates in bf children of smoking mothers, i know that it is more prevalent (obvo) among children of smokers generally, but if it gets into milk perhaps it is a familiar taste when first encountered? i know i wasn't too horrified by my first fag and did 20 yeras of smoking. my mum still smokes little cigars.

Thanks for this info. Am currently working with a smoking mother, she breast fed for 3.5 months. There was nothing worse(for me) having to pass her a baby to feed morning, noon and night when she smelled so strongly of smoke. Even now when I've bathed him and give him to her so she can give bottle I always think "why bother" as when I pick him up again he smells of smoke!

I know what you mean nanny about the smell. MY dd is 7mths and a friend gave me sum baby bits and pieces,and they smelt awful!Iv just put them in a cupboard,not sure what im going to do with them,but i wont use them!

Thanks for replys xxxx

It is horrible when a small child stinks of fags because their parents smoke.

Nicotine is not a dangerous chemical, it's just the addictive part. So baby may become addicted to breast milk, which is good right?

Really? I thought that a drop of neat nicotine on your tongue would kill a grown person.

I've just had a quick look at wikipedia and it seems I may be wrong about that, sorry for hasty-tipsy-typing.

However, "The currently available literature indicates that nicotine, on its own, does not promote the development of cancer in healthy tissue and has no mutagenic properties."

sparklyjen, I doubt that anybody actually enjoys neat nicotine, so that is sort of, out, right?

I've just googled and I am right. One drop of pure nicotine on your tongue will kill you

I smoked and drank while I was breastfeeding (I kept it up for 15 months! There was no way I could carry on my angelic pregnancy behaviour for that long!), although I have given up smoking now.

I read that breast milk from a mother who smokes and drinks is still better for baby than formula so I didn't worry about it too much... And I have a very healthy, well-developed 2 year old.

I always thought that it was rather stupid that our bodies are unable to filter out toxins from breast milk and through the placenta. They really should.

You are rather unlikely to come accross a drop of nicotine though...

Just pointing out that it isn't simply the addictive part that many people think it is.

Fair enough
You're right.

I guess some people would say that it is more stupid to smoke whilst breastfeeding!

Not having a go btw as I also agree it is better to bf and smoke and drink rather than not.