Breastfeeding mom won't stop smoking marijuana

Published October 25, 2015

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Breastfeeding rates are higher in Oregon than any other state in the US, with the Portland area leading the pack at more than 90 percent, reports the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

But it was in Portland that a woman recently had to sign a waiver before being allowed to breastfeed her newborn—because she is a medical marijuana user, and the hospital wanted her to acknowledge that she is aware of the potential risks of getting high while nursing.

"There are several studies that indicate that it doesn't, it can't transfer through your milk ducts," Crystal Cain tells KOMO News, though the American Academy of Pediatrics advises against smoking pot while nursing.

On the advice of her midwife, the new mom also smoked throughout her pregnancy to deal with nausea and anxiety. Her baby, who was born almost two months premature and needed an incubator for a few days, appears to be doing fine now, and Cain says she has no plans to stop smoking.

(Marijuana, meanwhile, has been implicated in two fatal heart failures.)