I think I am a bit behind on the posts about a study pertaining to smoking
and breastfeeding.

However, I did hear a little blurb on the TV news about this last night and
IT MADESENSE TO ME!

Why?  Becuase I STILL recall studies I did in high school where we examined
sputum samples under the microscope.  I was unlucky enough to get a sample
from a smoker.  I knew it immediately as the sputum SMELLED of nicotine.
Furthermore, it had an ugly gray color that I am sure also was evidence of
nicotine.

Years later, I saw a mother's milk that had been sitting for awhile.  SHe
called to ask what was wrong with her milk.  I asked to see a sample.  When
she stood next to me, I could smell the smoke on her clothes.  WHen I
opened the lid of the container where she put her milk, it STUNK of
nicotine and there was an ugly gray layer on the top of the cream that had
settled out and was floating on the top.

I told her her milk had nicotine in it.  She was horrified.  Had been told
by two different docs that smoking was perfectly ok while bresatfeeding,
but not during pregnancy.  oh dear.....

This study on smoking reminds me of one I read a few years back from one of
the Scandinavian countries that linked drug use (street type here) during
pregnancy with LATER drug use predisposition in the children of those
pregnancies!  The researcher noted the higher (statistically significant)
likelihood that children who had been exposed to street drugs during their
gestation would start using street drugs as teens.  Blew lots of readers
away..... is it not logical to consider that what babies taste in mom's
milk might be associated with preferences for similar tastes later?

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Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
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