Hello, my name is Lesley Kurowski and I am a student nurse at the
University of North Dakota. The topic I am interested in is the effects of
nicotine and smoking on breastfeeding infants. I have found in studies that
nicotine can decrease a mothers milk production which decreases the infants
weight gain (Ward, Bates, Benitz, and Burfield, 2001). It is thought that
nicotine increases the dopamine levels in the hypothalamus which reduces
prolactin levels. Prolactin stimulating or suppressive drugs can either
increase or decrease the mothers milk production (Horta, Kramer, and Platt,
2001). Also I have found that women who smoke during the postpartum period
tend to wean their infants off breastmilk earlier. Ratner, Johnson, and
Bottorff (1999), reported that approximately 65.1% of women who return to
smoking postpartum wean their infants off breastmilk before 26 weeks, where
as only 33.8% of women who did not smoke weaned their infants before 26
weeks. The early weaning may be due to the low fat concentrations in the
milk of smoking mothers which contributes to their infants decrease in
weight gain (Horta, Kramer, and Platt, 2001). This is an important issue
and I feel that stressing smoking cessation at every postpartum clinic
visit is extremely important for the infant and mothers well being.
Education should be aimed at stressing the many benefits of breastfeeding
and infant up to one year and the health risks that smoking imposes on both
the mother and child.

References

Horta, B.L., Kramer, M.S., and Platt, R.W. (2001). Maternal smoking and
the risk of early weaning: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Public
Health, 91, 304.

Ratner, P.A., Johnson, J.L., and Bottorff, J.L. (1999). Smoking relapse and
early weaning among postpartum women: is there an association? Birth, 26
(2), 76-82.

Ward, R.M., Bates, B.A., Benitz, W.E., and Burchfield, D.J. (2001). The
transfer of drugs and other chemicals into human milk. Pediatrics, 108(3),
776-789.

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