Improving Practice Standards Surrounding Birth, Breastfeeding, Cannabis and Beyond
Cannabis use during pregnancy is a significantly challenging topic. In addition to the challenges pregnant women face should they choose to use cannabis to treat pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting, there are serious problems and consequences surrounding breastfeeding. As an RN (also a non-practicing doula and prenatal yoga teacher) who specializes in women’s health and advocates for uninterrupted birth — I find these issues to be most concerning.
Women who test positive for THC throughout their pregnancies, and following labor and delivery, are advised against breastfeeding. Using the term “advised” is a kind understatement — these women are usually forced to give up breastfeeding from the start. The hours following birth are very sensitive and interfering with a mother’s ability to breastfeed places both mother and baby at risk for significant trauma — especially if the mother plans on breastfeeding. Preventing a new mother who planned to breastfeed from doing so will almost certainly send her into a significant experience of postpartum depression (PPD) which may impede her ability to bond with her baby. In the case of the infant, that baby may not learn to latch properly, that baby may not receive any of the dense nutrients from colostrum, and stimulating lactation may be impeded.
The consequences could be devastating long term as we know that breastfeeding is important for the development of the healthy human microbiome — the well-functioning immune system.
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