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Infants exposed to tobacco smoke in their environment have cotinine
(a nicotine metabolite) present in their urine.
Becker found that infants who were breastfed by mothers who smoked
had higher cotinine levels in their urine than breastfed infants
of non-smoking mothers with and without exposure to environmental
tobacco smoke. Nicotine is present in the breast milk of mothers who smoke.
The exposure to ingested tobacco products through breastfeeding
does not seem to increase the risk of respiratory problems that
is seen with exposure to environmental tobacco smoke
(
Becker, 1999
,
AAP DRUGS, 2001
).
Smoking is associated with shortened duration of breastfeeding
and decreased milk volumes. The latter is probably due to inhibition
of prolactin or oxytocin (
Howard, 1999
).
Women who smoke may breastfeed, but should be encouraged
to quit smoking.
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