Mama’s Milk Has THC In It

You read that right, today we are going to dive ALL the way into breastfeeding and cannabis. All from my own experiences and personal research, which I encourage everyone to do!

First things first, it’s important to know the laws in your state. You should also weigh your pros and cons, and most importantly KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! In many cases, HIPPA is violated the SECOND a mother is drug-tested against her will or without her express consent. Now with that said, in cases where the mother is acting funny, a drug test and other tests may be issued, and in these cases understandable. However we’re not talking about that, we’re talking about the average Jane Blow who puffs a little Mary Jane to help her eat, sleep, and generally function as a normal human being. These women get their rights violated and these women are the women you hear horror stories from. High, I am one of those women. 

Drug Testing During Pregnancy - What You Need to Know

In the state of California, cannabis use is LEGAL. Now that means it’s legal on a state level. Federally, well they still consider cannabis next to crack and heroin. Look it up on www.dea.gov, marijuana is considered a Schedule 1 substance. Meaning they consider it to have a HIGH potential for abuse and have no currently accepted medical uses in the US of A. So if you open your big fat potty mouth and go around telling everyone you’re a pothead well, they’re probably gonna getcha! However, without the express consent of the mother, and a good reason, they can’t just drug test you. In my case, I signed some of the documents without fully reading them like a fool. This is a mistake MANY mothers make, and some even sign anyways thinking they will be refused treatment. I’m going to say this really loud for my shy cannmommies in the back, THEY CANT REFUSE YOU TREATMENT FOR REFUSING TO DRUG TEST. According to ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, “The United States Supreme Court has ruled that hospital workers cannot test pregnant women for use of illegal drugs without their informed consent or a valid warrant…”

California Newborn Screen Test

Now that you know some of your rights, you might be wondering if your child could be drug tested. According to http://worldpopulationview.com,” in most states, there is no law that requires hospitals to test infants and new moms for illicit substances. In Minnesota and North Dakota, a test is required if drug-related complications occur at birth.” In the state of California, where I live, according to www.cephalon.ca.gov, it is a state law that all newborn babies have the Newborn Screen Test. This is as of May 2022. Okay so now you’re probably pretty sure you’re going to have your breastfeeding privileges revoked. Nay, I say. While it’s my personal belief that fed is best and all of us are doing what we can for our babies, if you want to breastfeed, it’s yours AND your BABY's right to do so. 

Breastfeeding and Cannabis

No matter HOW we choose to feed our babies, I think most of us can agree that breastfeeding is very natural. It’s our baby's instinct to search that nipple out the second their skin touches ours. And what a beautiful bonding experience it is. I’ve gotten into my struggles with breastfeeding, so we won’t get too much into that here. But we WILL get into the facts. While you may get looks and you may be treated a little funny by SOME. In most cases, they’re not even going to know what’s going on OR they’re a part of the,” breast is best,” club! At least in my case, those who helped were extremely willing and I only had maybe two ignorant comments. What were those comments you ask? 

“ You know that marijuana ends up in your breast milk.” 

This is my favorite one so we’re going to talk about it first. While it’s true, it’s a very misleading statement. There is a ton of misleading information out there but according to a fellow cannamom on Leafly, she had her breastmilk tested and it came back “non-detectable” for all cannabis-derived compounds, check it out!  https://www.leafly.com/news/health/thc-breast-feeding-story-research

Also, according to www.healthline.com, “Researchers found that an exclusively breastfeeding infant ingests an estimated 2.5 percent of the maternal dose (a range of 0.4 to 8.7 percent). This equates to about 8 micrograms of THC per kilogram of body weight over the course of a day.”

And www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov breaks it down into laments terms and states,” The main psychoactive component of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is excreted into breastmilk in small quantities.” Therefore, for all the Poindexter’s out there who like to point out that THC ends up in your breastmilk, THC binds to fat, and breastmilk is a whole lotta FAT. OBVIOUSLY, it’s going to end up in breastmilk, however, we don’t shame mothers for taking their prescriptions while breastfeeding, and this is where I take issue.

Mothers who breastfeed are not protected from PPD, or other mental illnesses such as eating disorders, and anxiety. Nor are they protected from chronic pain, insomnia, mood swings, etc. They’re still human beings who have needs and sometimes those needs are more serious than others. 

A breastfeeding mother taking fluoxetine may not be looked at in the same negative light, however, one of the major side effects of fluoxetine is suicidal thoughts, uncontrollable shaking of a part of the body,  loss of appetite, difficulty falling or staying asleep, ANXIETY, and many more. According to www.nhs.uk, Fluoxetine passes in breastmilk, also in fairly small amounts. Another website, www.webmd.com stated infants of mothers who were taking Fluoxetine or Prozac were significantly lower in weight than infants with mothers who were not taking the drug. There are also side effects that could pass through the breast milk. According to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, “Adverse effects such as colic, fussiness, and drowsiness have been reported in some breastfed infants. Decreased infant weight gain was found in one study, but not in others. No adverse effects on development have been found in a few infants followed for up to a year.” 

A breastfeeding mom may also be prescribed zolpidem to treat insomnia. What are the side effects? Well, serious and or life-threatening sleep behaviors, drowsiness, tiredness, headache, dizziness, uncontrollable shaking of a part of the body, pain, burning, numbness, or tingling of the arms, feet, or hands to make a few. And does this pass in breast milk? Well according to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov,” The levels of zolpidem in breastmilk are low and is somewhat rapidly eliminated from milk, so it would not be expected to cause any adverse effects in older breastfed infants who does not breastfeed during the night after the mother's dose.” A mother may also be prescribed Ambien which has similar side effects and DOES pass to the baby through breastmilk. According to www.babymed.com,” Ambien does pass to the baby in breast milk, but little is known in terms of contraindications. There have been no reports of negative side effects on infants.” 

So what should you do?

Well like I said, you should get extremely educated on the laws in your state, and your rights as not only a mother but just a human being in general, and weigh out your personal pros and cons. I always encourage others to DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH! Don’t trust everything you read or see on the internet, even from me. Personally, I had been using cannabis for so long for so many things that it didn’t make sense to me to trade a single medication for several prescriptions with questionable research and scary side effects. The only dangerous or scary side effect of my medication is the munchies. I don’t know about you, but am more than comfortable with that.