Weeds give you wings but by cutting your-baby’s!

Want to get high? But wait! Are you lactating? If yes, then beware! Think again. This highness can take you higher and also farther away from your baby or can even take your baby away from you! Habits or practices like smoking weed while breastfeeding or doing drugs when lactating will only lead to ruined health and further unfit life for your baby. Weeds may grow you wings so that you can soar higher in that state, but they are at the cost of your baby’s physical, mental and emotional loss.

What is breastfeeding?

Breastfeeding is feeding a baby by the mother from her own breasts. This is generally practiced for the new born babies. Research has shown tremendous benefits in breastfed babies as compared to the formula fed infants. Artificial food called formula has been developed by researches which can mimic the benefits of breasts milk but nothing can beat the natural milk that provides many direct and indirect benefits to the mother as well as the baby.

One must note that though breastfeeding is extremely advantageous, the mother needs to take utmost care of herself and the baby during lactation period. Habitslike drinking, smoking cigarettes or smoking weed while breastfeeding can severely damage the child’s health.

Advantages of breastfeeding

There are several key benefits of breastfeeding a baby. They are for the baby as well as the mother.Some of them are

• Babies develop stronger bones
• Risk of developing chronic conditions reduces. These are conditions like – Crohn’s disease, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, etc. Breastfeeding also leads to a lower risk of asthma
• Sudden infant death syndrome risk is cut by almost 50%
• This also helps the baby and the mother in weight management. It is said that obesity is less likely in both the mother and the baby if breastfed.
• Breastfeeding burns the mother’s calories.
• It is found that breastfeeding lowers the baby’s risk of certain types of cancers. It also is found to lower the mother’s risk of ovarian and breast cancer. It also reduces the chances of the mother to get osteoporosis later in life.
• It makes the baby healthier.Gastrointestinal infections and incidences of cold, pneumonia, etc. are reduced to a great extent.
• In case of the mother, breastfeeding helps in normalizing the uterus quickly. Also, post-delivery blood loss is reduced by breastfeeding.
• Breastfeeding helps the babies develop better antibodies when vaccinated as compared to the other babies.
• Another important study show very low instances of ear infections in breast fed babies.
• It has the cost benefit as it’s free.

What is weed?

Weed has many different names like Cannabis, marijuana, grass, ganja, hemp, etc. It is obtained from hemp plant. The chemical within weed that actually gives the state desired by the smokers is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). Marijuana is generally consumed to achieve a state of relaxation or heightened mood. It also leads to increase in appetite. Cannabis is used in medical, recreational and even spiritual activities.

General bad health effects of weed

Weed generally has more bad results on health than good. In some countries, doctors recommend controlled use of cannabis as a medicine. However it is dangerous to use marijuana continuously as it is addictive and its withdrawal is troublesome. Its addiction can ruin health for sure. Weed has a cascading effect too. For e.g. smoking weed while breastfeeding passes these bad health effects and toxins to the babies.

The instantaneous effects of marijuana are disorientation, rapid heartbeat, etc. These effects are then followed by sleepiness and sometimes even depression. Some are known to suffer panic or anxiety attacks. Weed can affect your sperms, deforming them. Using marijuana before delivery of child can severely affect the child causing premature delivery, underweight baby, high risk of leukaemia for the baby and even mental abnormalities.

Using weed during lactation period

Smoking weed while breastfeeding can negate almost all the advantages obtained by breastfeeding.The main problem in this section is that very less research has been done on this exact problem. For ethical reasons, not much research is conducted as conducting research might cause harm to the baby as well as the mother. It is unethical to risk the life of an infant for research purpose. Due to very less research it was difficult to say with certainty that marijuana smoking affected babies during breastfeeding. But almost the entire research community is unanimous over the fact that continuous smoking weed during lactation period is not at all advisable.

Some noted ill effects

By noting the growth parameters and process of growth and development among the babies and the mothers it has been possible to find out ill effects of practices like drinking or smoking weed while breastfeeding.Some of the notable health side effects are

• Babies are highly susceptible to chemicals than adults, as they are just developing their bodies. In such times, exposure to chemicals and toxins and smoke of marijuana can lead to underdevelopment or severe ill effects on the baby’s health.
• During the breastfeeding period babies are very fragile and weak. In such times getting high can impair your capacity for taking care of the baby.
• Smoking marijuana leads to passage of toxins to the baby through the breast milk. Thus the benefits that accrue due to breast milk get negated at the source itself and the babies get flooded with toxins instead of preventive anti-bodies.
• Some scientists have asserted that continued use of cannabis can lead to long term neurobehavioral effects in the babies.
• In new born babies, to get benefits for both the baby and the mother it is advisable to feed the baby every 4-6 hours. However many of the medical practitioners say that if the mother is smoking, she should pump and discard the breast milk for 24 hours before feeding the baby again. This will reduce the marijuana influence in the breast milk. However the feeding gap of 24 hours for the baby is not good. So it is advisable to stop smoking weed altogether during lactation period.

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