the carcinogens in cigarette smoke stay on your body(skin), or on your clothes, or in the fabric within your house.. although im not sure if it's okay before breastfeeding.. i suggest.. actually.. f*ck suggesting, if you love your children, get rid of your habit. (i've been smoking for 3 years and i kicked it) at such an early age for your baby to be even exposed to cigarette smoke is very dangerous.. i watch irresponsible parents smoke over they babys, and i get f*cking furious. please get rid of your habit, for the sake of your child's future, kids at a young age (even if it IS a baby) will pick up the habit.. and smoking takes 10 years off your life.. (+1 more year if your a left handed smoker lol) its not good for the baby.. and most importantly not for you, so you tell me what is the right thing to do

I would say maybe, but better not risk it. Plus, smoking is bad for your health and if I were you, I would do anything I can to stop the habit.

yes. i did it with all four of my children. If it wasn't ok it would be illegal and its not. So i did.

I'd say not to smoke for so many reason, But I would never say to not breastfeed for any reason.

Obviously I would encourage you to quit smoking first and foremost. Smoking can decrease milk supply and smoking moms tend to wean sooner. However, it is benficial for a baby of a mom who smokes to be breastfed. Nicotine is better absorbed through the respitory tract then from breastmilk. Breastfeeding can provide protection from infection and asthma. Formula fed babies of moms who smoke also excrete nicotine and cotinine in their urine and have a higher rate of infection and asthma. The best advice I can offer would be NEVER smoke around or near the baby. Mom should change clothes, wash hands and not to smoke within 2 hours of nursing.

I do smoke 2-3 hrs. before breastfeeding my 7mon old baby and have been since she was 1 mon. old. I only smoke maybe 1-3 cigg. a day. Most people will be quick to tell you "that's bad"..blah, blah, blah; as if there's anyone on the planet who hasen't heard that ciggerettes are bad for you. What people need to do is get educated about it. Yes, it is best to quit all together; but for women who can't or choose not to quit, it's still better to breastfeed than bottle feed. According to the research that I've read, nicotine does get into breastmilk, and has a half-life of 95 min. (so would prob. take about 3 hrs. to be eliminated). Not everyone can be "perfect", in fact no one is, so those of you who are sitting there shaking your finger at us "smokers", consider this, breastfeeding in itself takes alot of sacrafices, if we "smokers" really didn't care about our babies would we even be attempting to breastfeed at all? We as women and mothers do what we can with what we've got. Maybe if society wouldn't be so critical & judgmental of moms, more babies would get the wonderful benefits of breastfeeding. But instead moms don't even try b/c they feel as if they just can't live up to all of these "standards". As with everything, I believe moderation is key, I wouldn't smoke more that a few cigg. a day and not right before or during breastfeeding.

if you have kids, you should stop smoking - put that money in their college fund instead of smoking it up -

UMMMMMMMM.... NO, do drugs are ok to do while you are breastfeeding or while your being a mom/dad. PERIOD!!, it harms your baby and your children sould mean more to you then getting high on smoke>>

Women who drink and smoke while breastfeeding should have their children taken away from them. It is abusive to the child because they're putting their child's health and general well-being in danger. I quit for mine. It can be done. And if there's no actual law on the books, there should be.

People irritate the hell out of me. How many of you people that are sitting there commenting on this question are doctors? Yet you are the first to give medical advice like you have been through 12 years of schooling. Let me tell you hypocrites something, while you are siting here passing judgment on smoking parents, your children need some attention, so get your priorities together and quit speaking on things you have no true facts about and go read to your kids. As for the question; "Should mothers who smoke breastfeed?" Mothers who smoke are encouraged to quit, however, breast milk remains the ideal food for a baby even if the mother smokes." Although nicotine may be present in breast milk, adverse effects on the infant during breastfeeding have not been reported." AAP recognizes pregnancy and lactation as two ideal times to promote smoking cessation, but does not indicate that mothers who smoke should not breastfeed." Link http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/faq/ So, as for you uneducated people that like to confuse personal beliefs with facts, here is a little fact for you. I am tired of people that continue to talk down on or about others when they should take a look in the mirror. This question was asked for a fact based answer not for personal opinions. I don't expect people to agree with the fact that is stated in my post, but it is a fact none the less. I got this information from a credible source. I hope this helps those who are reading this to become more educated on the subject.

No, I don't think so. The toxic stuff stays in your bloodstream for longer than 2 hours ... it just isn't good for the baby.

It's always better to be clean and natural as possible for optimal results :)

I used to grow tobacco. Six weeks before harvest, you have to spray a chemical on the plants called MH-30. This chemical is systemic, it is absorbed into the plant and it stays there. It wouldn't work if it didn't. Its job is to stop the tobacco from putting out side shoots, called suckers after topping (breaking off the bloom). The suckers rob the plant of food and cause it to produce smaller, lighter leaves. So that MH-30 stays in the plant. The MH-30 bottle had a big warning on it that you shouldn't even allow pregnant women in the patch after the plants were sprayed at any time up until harvest because it was so strongly mutagenic and it caused miscarriages. That was the case when tobacco was mostly being raised in the US. But raising tobacoo was one of those jobs that was outsourced to third world countries since NAFTA. The price supports were removed in this country a few years ago, and almost none is still raised here. So what chemicals do you suppose they might be using on the tobacco now? After the tobacco is sold to the cigarette companies, they add flame retardants and all sorts of other chemicals to the tobacco to make it burn more slowly. If you ever smoke a Canadian cigarette, you'll find that they burn in a matter of seconds, as the use of those flame retardants isn't allowed there. When you smoke, all those chemicals not only enter your bloodstream, they also get all over your clothing. I read somewhere that it is more common for children of smokers to have asthma, even if they don't smoke in the house, because of the particulates clinging to the parent's clothing. None of this means you shouldn't nurse your child. The particulates will still be clinging to your clothing if you bottle feed. It does mean that you should quit. By the way, I also used to raise bottle calves. I had a cow and a goat that I used to raise two at a time, the rest were fed milk replacer from a bottle. The difference in health between the two groups was so dramatic that I swore I would never feed formula to a child of mine. My cow and goat raised calves were healthy, glossy, muscular and active. My formula raised calves all had the runs, they had dull coats, they were inactive and most of them got pneumonia.

If you don't believe the other answers here, try this experiment. Take a nice hot shower, two or more hours after you have been smoking, then wrap yourself in a clean white sheet and lay down on your bed. The sheet will now look like the shroud of turin, with your body outline on it in nicotine. This experiment works even better in a sauna, and you wrap yourself in a white towel, then sit there for about a half hour.

I agree with you i smoke and want to try and breastfeed.I know all the risk and i know it may not be the best thing. Doesnt mean i dont love my child and I'm actually offended that anyone could such a thing.We come here for advice and support not to be ridiculed.so before you judge you should hear the person out

The optimum answer would be "Stop smoking", best thing for you and the child. The answer you want , because you are a smoker, is to go ahead and smoke as long as you wait the 2 hrs. What I suggest is that you give the baby a chance to live in a smoke free (and it's outfalls) enviroment. Smoke outside, change your top and wash up. Your babies health is the most important thing here, not your addiction to cigarettes.

who the H*LL are any of you to tell people they should have there kids takin away or tell anyone for that matter what to do with there kids or themselves. I would love to c how yall raise your kids!!! Get a life n mind your dam business.

sure, it's okay to lsmoke while breastfeeding and to drink also. You didn't stop while pregnant, did you?

Go ahead - it's not going to harm the baby - really. Just ignore the hate filled "anti smoking" zealots - they talk from ignorance and not from honest to god real life experience.

No it's never a good idea. +5

if you cant give it up then bottle feed your baby. he/she does not need to suffer from your vice.