A woman with a legal card to use marijuana for medical purposes, recently had to sign a waiver before being allowed to breastfeed her newborn. The hospital wanted Crystal Cain to acknowledge that she is aware of the potential risks to her baby of getting high while nursing.
The new mom also smoked throughout her pregnancy, supposedly to deal with nausea and anxiety as adviced by her midwife. Her baby was born almost two months premature and needed an incubator for a few days. Still Cain says she has no plans to stop smoking.
"There are several studies that indicate that it doesn't, it can't transfer through your milk ducts, your body automatically kind of filters it.”
However, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises against mothers breasfeeding their babies while using marijuana.
The hospital where she delivered the baby decided to leave the choice in the new mom's hands - to choose between the positives of breastmilk, and the risks of marijuana on babies.
“We had the mom sign a waiver acknowledging the use of marijuana and the potential risks involved in it.” says Dr. Charles Kilo, Oregon Health Science University’s chief medical officer.
“We do understand the benefits of mothers' milk. We also don't want to be caught in a situation where a mother continues to use and says that we never gave her information on it, never informed about the risks, and so it's really a way of documenting that the parents acknowledge the risks. And we can't stop her from using it.”
The hospital says it's like warning a new mom against smoking or drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
Crystal Cain believes more and more hospitals will have to deal with this issue because of legalization in Washington and medical marijuana use in Oregon.
“I'm saying there's not enough information because nobody tests it. It's such a touchy subject that nobody wants to mess with it."
I would've thought that after her experience of delivering too early, she could have held off on the weed, SMH...
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