50% of women who decided to quit smoking before or during pregnancy start smoking again by the 9th month after delivery. It is estimated that every third to fourth breastfeeding woman smokes.
The child absorbs the ingredients of cigarettes through its lungs, and many substances pass into the mother’s milk. More than 5,000 harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, nitrosamines, benzo(e)pyrene (benzpyrene), benzene, hydrogen cyanide, aldehydes, cadmium and polonium are contained in cigarette smoke. The adverse effects are dose-dependent.
Nicotine is by far the best studied ingredient. It accumulates in breast milk. The concentration in this is three times higher than that in maternal plasma. The length of the smoking break before breastfeeding is a major factor influencing nicotine concentration in breast milk.
Highlighted effects of smoking on the breastfeeding woman and on the infant are:
- Poorer breastfeeding ability – unsuccessful initiation of breastfeeding, shorter breastfeeding time.
- Nicotine lowers the mother’s serum prolactin level, resulting in decreased milk production.
- Decreased serum prolactin levels are associated with decreased lipoprotein lipase activity, which decreases the fat content of breast milk. This explains why lower weight gain is seen in children of smokers who breastfeed.
- Smokers have lower concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids in breast milk.
- The concentration of the trace element iodine in breast milk is decreased, which leads to impaired synthesis (formation) of thyroid hormones. The result can be decreased cognitive performance in the child. The more smoking, the lower the child’s intelligence quotient.
Sudden infant death syndrome
If the mother smokes up to nine cigarettes a day while breastfeeding, the risk of sudden infant death syndrome increases fivefold, with the newborn child dying between the eighth day of life and the end of the first year of life. If the mother increases the dose of cigarettes – more than ten cigarettes a day – the infant’s mortality risk (risk of death) increases tenfold. Accordingly, nicotine, as a neurotoxin, impairs the functions of docking sites in the brain that play an important role in controlling breathing and waking. It dampens the sensitivity of a protein complex, which has the task of sounding the alarm in the event of poor oxygen supply during sleep and triggering a kind of wake-up reflex. High tobacco consumption by the mother thus causes a dysfunction of respiratory function in the child.Furthermore, disturbances in brain function can occur that affect cardiovascular regulation or certain wake-up mechanisms. Often, these conditions result in a slowed heart rate and eventual cessation of breathing. Since brain maturation occurs between the 3rd and 4th months of infants’ lives, increased cigarette use can significantly impair this in the form of changes and developmental disorders.
Therefore, the following applies: Do not smoke during the breastfeeding period!
If this does not succeed, should:
- Be smoked as little as possible.
- Never be smoked near the child.
- Before breastfeeding a smoking break be observed.
For more information on tobacco use, see “stimulants” in the “Micronutrient Medicine” super-topic.
