Now that you've made it through pregnancy, you'll probably be adding a lot of the things on the "off-limits" list back into your diet and your life. But while breastfeeding doesn't come with all the restrictions that pregnancy does in terms of what you can and can't do, one no-no that carries over is using marijuana.
Can you smoke weed while breastfeeding?
No, you can't smoke weed while you're breastfeeding. That's because when you smoke or eat marijuana, pot's active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), circulates through your bloodstream and gets into your breast milk.
Wherever fat cells are present, the THC dissolves and sticks around for a while. (Breast milk, it turns out, has lots of fat, which is what helps baby grow so quickly.) That means that the THC in marijuana gets into your baby's system when you're pregnant and also concentrates in the breast milk — where it can stay for up to six days —and passed onto your baby while you're nursing.
The way that researchers study how most drugs move through breast milk is to look at different dosages of the drug to figure out how much of the drug ends up in the milk supply.
With marijuana, that experiment is tricky: There’s no standard "dose" of marijuana since different people use different strains and preparations of the plant. But studies have shown that almost 1 percent of the THC in a joint ends up in breast milk, which baby excretes in his urine.
What’s more, animal studies have shown that marijuana can slow milk production. So if you’re new to breastfeeding and struggling to get your supply up, that’s probably reason enough to stay away from marijuana.
How can marijuana affect your baby if you're breastfeeding?
Prominent health and medical groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Medical Association (AMA) recommend that breastfeeding mothers stay away from marijuana because it might affect a baby’s brain development.
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In fact, in light of the growing trend of pregnant women turning to marijuana for morning sickness and other symptoms and continuing the habit while nursing, the AAP issued its first official guidelines on marijuana use, pregnancy and breastfeeding in 2018. In their recommendations, the group reaffirms that pregnant and nursing moms should not use marijuana in any form because it isn't safe for them or their babies, both in utero and after they're born.
Why? THC is known to bind to lots of protein receptors in the brain — that’s why it makes a person high. But those same protein receptors are known to play key roles in helping the brain develop properly, so researchers think that exposure to THC could alter brain development in subtle ways.
Studies surveying mothers about their little ones’ behavior found that babies exposed to marijuana through breast milk were more easily fatigued and had poorer suckling skills than their peers.
Research also showed marijuana use could have longer-term effects: Babies exposed to THC in breast milk had poorer scores on motor development tests — which assess a baby’s movements and responses to his environment — at age 1.
The studies on marijuana and breastfeeding have lots of caveats. They rely on questionnaires that could be answered incorrectly. And many mothers who smoke marijuana may expose their baby to THC not only through breast milk but secondhand smoke as well.
In fact, a study in the journal Pediatrics found that many children whose parents smoke pot regularly tested positive for marijuana exposure. Because marijuana exposure in kids has been linked to a number of health conditions and risks, those findings suggest that not only is smoking pot unsafe during pregnancy and breastfeeding but also near children.
Can you smoke pot around your baby if you're not breastfeeding?
Though controlled studies on the subject are still sparse, those out there suggest enough risk that most health care providers will tell you to not use marijuana while breastfeeding.
And even if you don’t breastfeed, there’s reason for both you (and your partner, if you have one) to avoid marijuana. Not only can THC affect your baby if he ingests it through your breast milk, but there’s some evidence that the babies of parents who smoke pot may have a higher risk of asthma and other respiratory problems, middle ear conditions, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
This could be caused by breathing in secondhand smoke, and some experts suggest that parents’ ability to care for a child may be impaired when using marijuana. For those reasons, ACOG reaffirmed a policy statement in 2021 urging pregnant and breastfeeding women to avoid using marijuana.
If you’d still like to use pot while breastfeeding, talk to your doctor. But most experts agree, it’s generally safest for your baby if you stay away from marijuana when you're nursing — and at home in general when you have little ones in the house.
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