Sarah Laffey

ISM 7th Period

“Using Illegal Drugs During Pregnancy.” American Pregnancy Association, 1 Feb. 2018,

americanpregnancy.org/pregnancy-health/illegal-drugs-during-pregnancy/.

• When a pregnant women smokes marijuana it crosses the placenta to the baby.
• Like cigarette smoke, marijuana contains toxins that keep your baby from getting the
proper supply of oxygen that the baby needs to grow.
• Smoking marijuana increases the levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the
blood, which reduces the oxygen supply to the baby.
• Smoking marijuana during pregnancy can increase the chance of miscarriage, low birth
weight, premature births, developmental delays, and behavioral and learning problems.
• When pregnant women use cocaine is crosses the placenta and enters baby’s circulation.
• Early months of pregnancy cocaine exposure increases the risk of miscarriage.
• Later in pregnancy cocaine use can cause placental abruption, which can lead to severe
bleeding, preterm birth, and fetal death.
• Women who use cocaine during pregnancy are 25% more likely to have premature labor.
• Babies with mothers that used cocaine throughout pregnancy may have smaller heads and
be growth restricted.
• Babies who are exposed to cocaine later in pregnancy may be born dependent on the drug
and suffer from withdrawal symptoms.
• Symptoms of withdrawal include tremors, sleeplessness, muscle spasms, and feeding
difficulties; they also may have learning difficulties as child gets older.
• When mother uses heroin, it crosses the placenta to the baby, and being this drug is so
addictive, the unborn baby can become dependent on the drug.
• Using heroin during pregnancy increases the chance of premature birth, low birth weight,
breathing difficulties, low blood sugar, bleeding within the brain, and infant death.
• Babies can also be born addicted to heroin and can suffer from withdrawal, which include
irritability, convulsion, diarrhea, fever, sleep abnormality, and joint stiffness.
• PCP use during pregnancy can lead to low birth weight, poor muscle control, brain
damage, and withdrawal symptoms.
• Taking methamphetamine during pregnancy can result in problems similar to those seen
with the use of cocaine.
• The use of methamphetamine can cause the baby to get less oxygen, which can cause low
birth weight.
• Methamphetamine can also increase the likelihood of premature labor, miscarriage, and
placental abruption.

This source was very informational and included a lot of good material, one thing that
was very surprising to me was that Tennessee is currently the only state that has prenatal
substance abuse as a criminal act of child abuse and neglect, this was surprising because
of how harmful drugs are to the baby.
 Sarah Laffey
ISM 7th Period

Bailey, Beth A., et al. "Infant birth outcomes among substance using women: why quitting

smoking during pregnancy is just as important as quitting illicit drug use." Maternal and

Child Health Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, 2012, p. 414+. Health & Wellness Resource Center,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A347292757/HWRC?u=j084910009&sid=HWRC&x

id=4bf0fed9. Accessed 27 Mar. 2019.

• Between pregnant women that use cigarettes but no drugs, or drugs but no cigarettes, or
both cigarettes and drugs or neither cigarettes or drug the infants of mothers changed
significantly on birthweight, but not gestational age.
• Women who smoked but did not use drug the baby’s birthweight was 163 g more then a
baby whose mother didn’t use anything.
• Women who used drugs but did not smoke the birthweight was 317 g more than mothers
who did not use anything.
• Women who did both drugs and smoked the birthweight was 352 g more than baby’s
with mothers that did not.
• Drug-related infant mortality associated with tobacco use is second from heroin.
• Smoking has shown to add over $700 in neonatal costs per exposed child.
• It is shown that there is a significantly decreased in birth weight and gestational age at
delivery among infants born to substance using women.
• Marijuana is the most widely used drug during pregnancy.
• Methamphetamine has become a common drug of choice for many pregnant substance
users.
• Each additional cigarette smoked per day in third trimester led to an 11.6 gm decrease in
birthweight.
• Pregnancy smoking is an increased risk for preterm delivery.
• An increase in birth weight of only 250 gm saves an average of more than $12,000 per
infant in medical costs.
• Being born even a week early has been shown to increase the cost of state early
intervention services by nearly $1,000 per child.

This article explained the effects on the baby when pregnant mom smokes or uses drug, this
source was also a experimental trail of smoking moms.
 Sarah Laffey
ISM 7th Period
Smith, Anne. “Drugs and Breastfeeding.” Breastfeeding Basics, 14 May 2016,

www.breastfeedingbasics.com/articles/drugs-and-breastfeeding.

• Most drugs pass into human milk.

• Drugs must pass through bloodstream to be in the milk.
• Almost all medication appears in very small amounts, usually less than 1% of maternal
dose.
• Very few drugs are contraindicated for nursing mothers.
• The vast majority of medications can be taken without harm to the baby.
• Many factors must be taken into consideration, such as the route of administration, the
amount taken, how often it’s taken, the baby’s age and health, frequency and volume of
feedings, the duration of drug therapy, and the type of medication.
• Babies are always exposed through the GI tract.
• Topical medications and inhaled medication or applied to eyes or nose will reach the milk
in lesser amounts and more slowly than others and almost always safe for nursing
mothers.
• Oral medications take longer to get in the milk than IV and IM routes.
• The higher the dosage, the more the drug transfers into milk.
• Medication taken 30 to 60 minutes before feeding are likely to be a peak blood levels
when baby’s nurse.
• The immunity and maturity of the baby has a big impact on the drug that are taken.
• Less drugs are received to the baby if they nurse once or twice a day and supplemented
the rest of the time.
• Medication taken for weeks or months may have a greater impact on nursing than one
taken for just a few days.
• When pregnant, medication go into the bloodstream which has direct asses to the baby
through the placenta; but when breastfeeding medications enter the bloodstream but is
filters through the breast and less will be in milk.
• Drugs that are not absorbed from the GI tract are usually safe.
• Babies absorb more nicotine from passive smoke than from the nicotine in breast milk.
• Babies exposed to smoke have a higher incidence of respiratory illnesses, ear infections
and colic.
• When nursing moms drink alcohol it enters the bloodstream quickly and a small amount
of less than 2% go to the breast milk.
• Wait at least two hours for every drink before nursing a baby.
• Caffeine in five or less cups each day will not harm the nursing baby, less then 1% of the
maternal dose is transferred to the baby.

This article had a lot of viable information about what drugs transfer through the breast
milk when breastfeeding, it show the effects it has on the baby and how much they get.