Pregnant or Breastfeeding
The Impact of Nicotine, Smoking and Tobacco
Compiled by John R. Polito, Nicotine Cessation Counselor
What if a pregnant smoking mother's regular nicotine feedings caused her unborn child to grow millions of extra acetylcholine receptors in the cortex, striatum, and cerebellum regions of its brain (1995,1999). Imagine being born with a brain that's chemically addicted to and dependent upon nicotine. Imagine a breastfeeding mother who daily feeds her newborn what many scientists now consider to be themost addictive drug of all. Although your unborn or new baby would obviously have far fewer conditioned psychological nicotine feeding cues to trigger crave episodes, chemical (physiological) withdrawal could be very similar for both of you.
Although you have probablylong dreamed of someday ending your brain's chemicaladdiction upon nicotine, the sudden news of pregnancy and deep concern for the growing life inside can make it seem like you're being forced to quit. It can leave the "junkie mind" feeling deprived of someday quitting on its own terms. Instead of embracing the opportunity to live your own long held dream of quitting, far too many mothers-to-be quit only for the baby. Sadly,roughly half of all who quit during pregnancy relapse to smoking nicotine within hours, days or weeks of giving birth.
Instead of beginning a wonderful nicotine-free life together, these new babies have an actively feeding drug addict for a mother. Instead of being greeted by sweet smelling kisses, these babies bond their love with sensing the arrival of the nasty smells and odors of the over 4,000 chemicals that were just sucked into their mother's mouth and deposited upon her face, hands and clothing. Forced to either breathe lingering clouds of toxins or watch their mother depart at least hourly to tend and care for her addiction, when it comes to fresh air or love these new babies live a constantly interrupted life.
Your selection of your primary quitting motivation, and keeping it fueled, is critical. Quitting for your baby all but assures nicotine relapse once you convince yourself that the greatest dangers have passed. By quitting for you, and allowing your baby to inherit the fruits of your decision, you set the stage to permanently arrest your dependency. Keep in mind that after giving birth most new mothers experiencea brief period of minor sadness that may last up three weeks. What are the odds of you getting through this brief period without experiencing relapse if you failed to develop your own personal core recovery motivations and have no dreams or desires of your own to muster and rely upon?
Nicotine's half-life inside both of you isabout two hours. Within a maximum of 72 hours your blood serum and body will be 100% nicotine free and chemical withdrawal will have peaked in intensity and have started to gradually decline. No crave episode triggered by encountering a conditioned nicotine feeding cue (times, places, activities and emotions during which you've created the subconscious expectation of smoking nicotine) will last longer than 3 minutes but be sure and look at a clock as time distortion during recovery is normal. The most craves encountered by the average quitter on the most challenging day of recovery is six (6) on day three. By day ten the average quitter is down to just 1.2 crave episodes per day.
Can you handle 18 minutes of substantial anxiety (6 craves x 3 minutes)? Sure you can, we all can! But what if you are not normal and have somehow established twice as may conditioned subconscious feeding cues as the average nicotine addict? Could you handle 12 crave episodes and up to 36 minutes of panic type anxiety on your most challenging day of recovery? Absolutely!
Would you want your baby to eventuallyendure withdrawal alone as its welcome into the world? Click upon and read the following links guide about how to navigate the first 72 hours of recovery. Once you realize that you can minimize many of the symptoms often experienced when quitting (such as wildblood sugar swings andcaffeine overdose) and calm lots of needless fears (by understanding theemotional sense of loss, abandoning the concept ofquitting forever and knowing thelaw of addiction), you may find that recovery is far easier than you ever thought possible. None of us are stronger than nicotine but then we don't need to be as it is only a chemical and has an I.Q. of zero. Knowledge is key!
If you are looking for a website capable of guiding you in breaking nicotine's grip upon your life then you're in right place! If instead, you're searching for a website to reassure you that smoking or nicotine use is safe for you, your unborn baby, or your breastfeeding baby -- like some sites do -- then you probably need read no further. Those other sites are exactly right. Statistically, although substantially increased, the odds are still in your favor that neither smoking nor nicotine will kill your unborn baby but should death be the test? Fetal or infant nicotine addiction is not safe - in any form of delivery - and neither are the over 4,000 chemicals delivered with each and every puff.
This link shows how each puff of nicotine graduallydamages and impairs blood flow. If your baby is relying exclusively upon the contents of your blood to grow and properly develop is it really any wonder that the below listed risks are being felt by babies whose blood is filled with large quantities of carbon monoxide and nicotine?
There is always a price to pay. The only question is, how much will it cost your child?
Known Pregnancy Risk Factors
Women who smoke during pregnancy are intentionally subjecting their pregnancy and unborn baby to increased risk of ...
- Autism -07/02
- Asthma -08/02
- Stillbirth -08/02
- Clubfoot -08/02
- Ear infections -02/02
- Premature birth -02/02
- Low-birthweight -08/02
- Middle ear disease -08/99
- Ectopic pregnancy -02/02
- Respiratory infections -08/02
- Colic or excessive crying -08/01
- Pregnancy complications -08/02
- Nicotine withdrawal at birth -06/03
- Abnormal lung development -01/02
- A higher rate of infant mortality - -08/02
- Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) -09/02
- Oral clefts in the lip and/or palate -01/02 02/00
- Optic nerve hypoplasia and visual impairment -06/02
- Placental abruption and placenta previa -10/01 11/96
- 50% greater chance of mental retardation (I.Q. less than 70) -04/96
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) -07/03 04/02 10/98
- Increased lifetime testosterone levels for your unborn daughter -06/03
- Diminished future fertility (fewer eggs) for your unborn daughter -04/99
- Diminished future sperm count (48% lower) for your unborn son -05/03
- 160% increase in the risk of your child having behavioral problems -07/98
- Brain damage to serotonin neurons and possible lifetime depression09/01
- An average of over $700 in extra neonatal costs per smoking mother -04/02
Known Breastfeeding Risk Factors
The number of web sites and articles that advise smoking mothers that the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks posed by smoking is shocking. Most ignore the baby as a person who is subject to all other recent studies relating to nicotine addiction, nicotine's harms, smoking's other risks, including the risks posed by second-hand smoke. For example, if a mother abstained from smoking while pregnant, how long will it take to hook her new baby on nicotine if she returns to smoking while breastfeeding? Anew study just released presents strong evidence that it may only take a few cigarettes a day for a few weeks to addict a full grown teenager. What evidence do we have to suggest that the outcome is any different for a small baby?Included in the risks below are risks identified in other recent studies with at least one link to articles discussing each risk. Review each and decide for yourself whether or not they'd have application to a newborn. For example, if nicotine is believed to cause chronic depression, brain damage and learning impairment in new teen smokers, what evidence is there to suggest that feeding your baby nicotine via your milk wouldn't do the same? Although extremely difficult to develop any medical study to measure depression or intelligence in newborns, does that mean we should ignore such studies when it comes to breastfeeding?
Women who smoke while breastfeeding may subject their baby to the risk of ...
- Addiction -05/02
- Atherosclerosis -07/01
- Middle ear infections -02/02
- Less breast milk -12/91 12/92
- Destruction of brain cells -05/02
- Colic or excessive crying -03/89
- Circulatory damage -07/01 07/01
- Chronic Depression -10/00 10/00
- Not being able to initiate breast feeding -07/02
- Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) -09/02 11/97
- Decrease in your child's ability to learn or memorize -05/02
- Not wanting to initiate breast feeding due to smoking -1999
- 70% increase in respiratory infections for first 6 months -12/96
- Growth of brain neurons to process nicotine -05/02 03/02 11/95
