NEW YORK, May 15 (UPI) — Marijuana-smoking mothers who breastfeed pass the drug to their babies through the milk, U.S. health experts said.
Mothers pass on everything they consume to babies in their breast milk. However, I have my doubts that marijuana is passed through the breast; I think the stems would kinda hurt. Maybe THC is passed through breast milk…
“There is a higher concentration of marijuana in breast milk than in the mother’s bloodstream so these babies are getting a fair amount of marijuana,” said Sarah Kabalka, a registered nurse who specializes in addiction.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says you shouldn’t smoke pot and breastfeed. Unfortunately there isn’t much in the way of studies of marijuana-only smoking mothers and breastfeeding. A 1990 study claimed that pot-smoking breastfeeding led to decreased motor development, but another study found no differences between pot-breastfed infants and controls. The Sudden Infant Death Research Foundation claims pot-breastfed babies are at higher risk for SIDS.
Marijuana, which is nearly three times stronger than it was two decades ago, also can result in gynecomastia, or enlarged breasts, and lower sperm motility, Dr. David Sack, an addiction psychiatrist at Promises Treatment Centers told the New York Daily News in a story published Friday.
I don’t want anyone named Dr. Sack talking to me about sperm motility! I’m also having trouble understanding what a modest, reversible effect on male sperm motility caused by chronic marijuana use has to do with breastfeeding mothers who smoke pot.
The gynecomastia claim has never been proven and the studies out so far are contradictory. I tend to believe the biggest cause of “man boobs” among pot smokers is lack of exercise and poor diet. And again, gynecomastia is a male consition; what does this have to do with breastfeeding?
Regular users of marijuana, those who smoke it several times a week, also have a higher rate of depression, and marijuana can lead to addiction if the user is genetically predisposed to becoming an addict, Kabalka said.
Or could it be that people with depression tend to smoke marijuana several times a week to self-medicate? And once again, the connection to breastfeeding is what, depressed babies?
When you “start smoking pot, there is no way to know when the switch is flipped and you become an addict,” she said. “Since the pot is stronger, that means you become more high and stay high longer.”
I think Nurse Kabalka failed that class in nursing school where they explained how the kidneys, liver, lungs, and brain work. When you smoke pot, you get high. “High” is acheived by X% of THC in your bloodstream (X differs from person to person). If you have schwag, you’ll smoke a lot of it until you reach X%. If you have kind, you’ll smoke a little of it until you reach X%. But X% of schwag and the X% of kind is the same X%! (It’s like that old saw about “a pound of feathers” vs. “a pound of lead”.) So as the THC hits your lungs and is distributed to your blood which carries it to the greedy little CB1 and CB2 receptors in the brain, you can quickly and easily determine when you’ve hit X%. Then your liver and kidneys work at removing that THC from your blood (the THC-COOH metabolites go to your fat cells, damn it!), which happens at the same rate whether X% is schwag or kind.
I’m not doctor, pediatrician, or biologist, but this is how I personally look at any and all claims regarding marijuana, pregnancy, and infants: Marijuana’s been used by mankind in various societies for thousands of years. If pot smoking during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding were demonstrably harmful, the societies that allowed moms to use pot would’ve stopped it or we’d see noticeable differences between their children and controls by now. But since Jamaicans, Rastafarians, and three generations of Deadheads seem to have kids that are no different than anyone else’s, I’m believe marijuana and motherhood claims are simply more propaganda.
(That said, I don’t think moms should be blazing four-foot bong rips all day, either, and then breastfeeding junior. I think moderate or occasional use shouldn’t be a problem.)
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i wish there was good and thorough research on breastfeeding and using marijuana. I’m a breastfeeding mom and have specific questions about this topic–urg! frustrating…
Hypothetically: If a breast feeding mom takes 1-2 hits but waits a day before breastfeeding, is the concentration of THC lowered in the breast milk?
Does THC harm babies development???
There needs to be an expert NORML researcher researching this topic
Ok, I am confused. Is it safe to smoke while you are breastfeeding?
the thc is going into your lungs and into the blood, to the brain, increasing the dopamine production, down the liver and out attaching to the fat cells. the breast milk contains the essentials for the child’s survival, like vitamins and minerals, and carbs proteins and fats. hmm.. where would the fat come from that the body need’s for that milk.. their own body. and if the fat used has thc attached to it then you’d have to see how it could be passed through the milk.
She didn’t actually give any facts,
this is not a fact
“There is a higher concentration of marijuana in breast milk than in the mother’s bloodstream so these babies are getting a fair amount of marijuana,”
There is no pharmacological substance known as marijuana a real expert would have said THC or THC metabolite
This statement is not backed up by a cite of any studies since this is supposed to be about facts she needs to cite
“Regular users of marijuana, those who smoke it several times a week, also have a higher rate of depression, and marijuana can lead to addiction if the user is genetically predisposed to becoming an addict”
great for information i really appreciate all the comentary. As a personal descision I won’t be smoking and breastfeeding though it has crossed my mind, BUT I definitely can’t hate on anyone who does!
people take drugs by the handful while they are pregnant and breastfeeding, chemically engineered substances, and dr’s dish them out without so much as a second glance.
I would so much rather take a natural substance to combat nasty morning sickness and the general aches and pains that come with my several health conditions.
Wow! We are in trouble when an important debate is so weak that we have to attack the person. Did anyone read the article before they jumped to a conclusion? I did not see where she came out anti anything. She is trying to get people to think. Take the hint, the information is factual and has a clear scientific foundation. If you are going to use, know the facts, don’t hide from them.
Teus and I were on the same track and he provided an important missing piece. See my take at planetcrunch.com/blog
Tell me I didn’t abstain for nothing!
Received this email from Franjo Grotenhermen, who has extensively studied this kind of thing:
Well done, Teus!
Isn’t there a cannabinoid substance released in the milk the first time that a mother breastfeeds that is important to the human immune system?
This item really caught my attention. I am always fascinated when I come across a new “expert”. So Sarah Kabalka, who are you? Not much online about any experts named Kabalka, except for George Kabalka, a distinguished (and published in reviewed journals) scientist in the field of Radiology. That’s not it!
Oh! How about the RN liscensed in New Mexico? Liscense # R46765. That looks like a closer fit. Not a very common name, after all. Hmm, seems to be some problems there though. That Sarah Kabalka doesn’t seem to be board recognized as a specialist in anything. And what’s this? Placed on probation by the NM Board of Nursing for 1 year in Jun 2004? Oh, my! And then “suspended summarily” in Dec 2005? And again in Feb 2006 – “suspended 2 years; must serve 8 months, then probate”. Say it ain’t so! And her liscense to expire the end of this month?Wonder if the NM BoN will be renewing her?
Of course, it could be a completely different Sarah Kabalka. Perhaps the one referenced in a Nov 2008 article in the Reno Gazette-Journal by staff member Maggie O’Neill. Nope, couldn’t be, that Sarah Kabalka is “a registered nurse with nearly 20 years of experience with the elderly and a health expert for the online web site justanswer.com” according to O’Neill.
Or could there be a third Sarah Kabalka who has managed to become an expert in the field of addiction without leaving any traces online while doing so? Or perhaps (just perhaps) there is but only one Sarah Kabalka, a troubled RN in NM, who has had difficulty keeping a job (what with all the disciplinary issues) and has been making spare change answering questions on justanswer? Has this poor woman suddenly been thrust into the national spot light by lazy reporters from the New York Daily News and UPI.
I don’t have the answers, but I’m sure a real investigative journalist can find out a fair bit more.
Will the real Sarah Kabalka please stand up?
I agree:) moderation is what its all about…but the 4ft bong ripp joke was hilarious!
When I was breastfeeding, I rather assumed that THC would pass through the breastmilk. Actually, I abstained from THC, Alcohol and tobacco from conception through weening. Duh!
regardless of its potential harms one thing you can’t say about marijuana is that it causes death, as opposed to its prohibition which does.