Hi Christine, 
I am bit surprised, you appear to be comparing alcohol consumption in pregnancy to cannabis consumption while breastfeeding? Is that what you intended to do?  Those are really two very different things!! However, if you were comparing consumption during breastfeeding I would agree that they are similar.  My understanding of the research on both alcohol consumption and cannabis consumption during breastfeeding is that the evidence is pretty similar. Harm has been looked for but not really found with any certainty. And so why someone would say that women should stop breastfeeding if they smoke cannabis I can't imagine.
Karleen Gribble
Australia



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> When I graduated from college, one of my first conferences, probably '72 or '73 was on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The recommendation was and still is, no alcohol during pregnancy because we don't know what the threshold is before damage is done. While there are no concrete studies on the use of Marijuana during pregnancy and breastfeeding as with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, there is consistent reference to neurobehavioral problems. Do we really want to wait for these consequences to present full force before we step in? It's a little late then. Are we advocating for the baby or the mother? If as an LC I tell a mother the potential problems with using Marijuana and breastfeeding and then help her breastfeed, teach her to pump and dump if necessary but don't have any way to follow up on her, that's a problem. We have no problem telling a mother she can't breastfeed because of a prescription drug she is using that has some of the same infant monitoring recommendations that Marijuana does. Why is that?
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> I've been an IBCLC since 1987, I used to ache for the babies that weren't breastfed. I had to let that go, it was too painful. And while I'd prefer to see every baby be breastfed, quite honestly, I'd rather err on the side of caution and say "no" to breastfeeding if marijuana is used. 
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