The AAP encourages those who breastfeed to quit smoking. The risks of smoking include sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), decreased fetal breathing, learning problems, respiratory disorders, and heart disease as an adult. If quitting is impossible, consider making your home and car smoke-free.1 2
Nicotine secreted into breastmilk can potentially cause severe adverse effects on a newborn and there is no knowledge of the exact period when infants develop the ability to completely metabolize nicotine. Studies found that the amount of nicotine found in breastmilk is 2.9 times greater than that found in maternal blood plasma.3
E-cigarettes are not an FDA-approved method to quit smoking. The inhaled nicotine of e-cigarettes still enters someone’s blood through their lungs, and then easily passes into breastmilk.4 5
While smoking donors are not excluded from donating breastmilk via community milksharing it is the recipient’s personal choice whether they want to receive milk from a donor who smokes tobacco. Eats on Feets requires full disclosure of all substances used.
Donors should not smoke if their milk will be given to a premature or critically ill baby.
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- Healthy Children – Where We Stand: Smoking During Pregnancy ↩︎
- Healthy Children – How to Quit: When the Smoker is You ↩︎
- Cândida Caniçali Primo1, et al. 2013. Effects of maternal nicotine on breastfeeding infants
↩︎ - Brian P. Jenssen, MD, MSHP, FAAP, et al. 2019. E-Cigarettes and Similar Devices ↩︎
- CDC – Tobacco and E-Cigarettes ↩︎
