Is Nicotine Safe in Breastfeeding

I am a breastfeeding mother and i want to know if it is safe to use Nicotine? Is Nicotine safe for nursing mother and child? Does Nicotine extracts into breast milk? Does Nicotine has any long term or short term side effects on infants? Can Nicotine influence milk supply or can Nicotine decrease milk supply in lactating mothers?

Information in this record refers only to the use of nicotine as a replacement product for smoking cessation. With a 21 mg transdermal patch, nicotine passes into breastmilk in amounts equivalent to smoking 17 cigarettes daily. Lower patch strengths of 7 and 14 mg provide proportionately lower amounts of nicotine to the breastfed infant. No studies on nicotine spray or nicotine gum use in nursing mothers have been reported. Maternal plasma nicotine concentrations after using the nicotine spray are about one-third those of smokers, so milk concentrations are probably proportionately less. Maternal nicotine plasma concentrations after using nicotine gum are variable depending on the vigor of chewing and number of pieces chewed daily, but can be similar to those attained after smoking cigarettes. One source recommends the shorter acting agents over the patches.[1] Some have advocated use of nicotine replacement products in smoking mothers to reduce the risk to breastfed infants of inhaled smoke and toxins in maternal cigarette smoke.[2][3] However, others point out that based on animal data, nicotine may increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome and might interfere with normal infant lung development. These authors recommend against using any form of nicotine in nursing mothers.[4][5] No studies have been performed to resolve these issues. An alternate smoking cessation product may be preferred during nursing.

Maternal smoking is a major risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Nicotine is thought to be the causative factor by reducing the dopamine content of the carotid bodies and reducing the infant's ability to autoresuscitate during hypoxic episodes.[4] Nicotine in the breastmilk of smokers also appears to reduce the heart rate variability in male breastfed infants.[6] In a study of the infants of 5 mothers who were using 21 mg nicotine patches for smoking cessation, the infants' average Denver Developmental age was equivalent to their chronological age.[2]

Cigarette smoking reduces milk yield.[7][8] This effect may be caused by nicotine which lowers serum prolactin,[9] although other factors associated with smoking may also play a role.[10] In a study of 15 nursing mothers who were using nicotine patches in decreasing doses from 21 mg to 14 mg to 7 mg over several weeks, their average milk production was 17% lower than average literature values as judged by infant milk intake. The study did not directly compare the milk production of smokers to nonsmokers, however. In this study, infant milk intake during maternal use of the nicotine patch was similar to that during smoking.[2]