Cocaine & Breast Milk: A Deadly Combination

Today I read an incredibly tragic storyabout a 2-month-old baby in Pennsylvania who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) because her parents were allegedly too drunk and high on cocaine to notice.

The parents, Jennifer Nicole Gaster and Daniel Keith Martin II, both 30, stood trial Monday on child endangerment charges alleging that after a night spent snorting cocaine and drinking beer and vodka, the couple was too incapacitated to notice their baby was dying.

This is not the first time we have seen a parents with a history of drug and/or alcohol abuse lose a child to SIDS. In February of 2007, a Michigan woman pleaded guilty to charges that claimed high levels of cocaine in her breast milk had killed her 5-month-old daughter. Although the cause of death was originally thought to be SIDS at the time the baby died, further testing proved otherwise, and at the trial, the mother admitted to using cocaine two or three times the day before the baby died.

Traces of cocaine can remain in breast milk for more than 48 hours after a woman uses it - and the transmission from mother to infant has been linked to respiratory failure, seizures, increased cardiovascular risk, central nervous system damage, irritability and addiction - just to name a few.

Babies are at high risk for SIDS if they:

o Are born to mothers who smoke or use drugs

o Have low birth weight or premature infants

o Are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke

o Sleep in a crib packed with soft objects and loose bedding

o Are placed to sleep on their stomachs

o Are between the ages of 1 and 6 months

Please be advised that most drugs are transmitted through breast milk. If you are abusing any kind of drug - especially cocaine - the effects can be deadly.