Smoking & signs of reflux in baby.....connections?

Hello everyone, let me first start by saying I clearly am looking for answers on everyone's different situation so I can make some comparisons to help my sister. I am not looking for an argument or debate........

My question is to those who have smoked both during pregnancy and then after bubs was born did you have a typical, happy baby or looking back did you have a very unsettled bubs, perhaps with reflux or something similar or so you thought? (does this make sense?)

My sisters DD1 cried non stop for 3 months, if she wasn't crying she was not asleep. She would finally settle at night around 12am then up every hr til about 5 or 6am for the day. It was a nightmare for her (I'm sure several can relate) and she was determined to keep BF, but eventually it got all too much, she went on formula and around 4 months seem to just stop - great!!!! we all thought it was that she needed the formula

Fast forward to now she has just had a DS, he is 2weeks old and crying constantly and waking every hour. Could just be her bad luck. But we were all talking and wondering if it might have something to do with smoking throughout her pregnancy and now whilst BF.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? I guess was wondering if others had been I could tell her of this and she may be able to do something before she goes insane with a naughty little 2yr old :D and a screaming new baby.

Thanks for anyone who replies.

Could be or could be not. I reckon your sister prob knows that smoking is not the best for her or bub and blaming all issues on the smoking is not gonna really help her or baby. The ABA believe that it is still better for a mum who smokes to breastfeed than to feed formula (if she is still going to smoke either way).

i didnt find that at all hun. my bubs obviously had their moments of being unsettled but it wasnt constant, and neither of them had reflux. hope ur sis gets a break soon, poor bugger

Nope, smoking didnt seem to cause any issues here, J was a text book "perfect" baby.

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Could be or could be not. I reckon your sister prob knows that smoking is not the best for her or bub and blaming all issues on the smoking is not gonna really help her or baby. The ABA believe that it is still better for a mum who smokes to breastfeed than to feed formula (if she is still going to smoke either way).

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Thanks for all of your responses.....like I said I wanted to hear from those in similar situations who have smoked etc and what their bubs was like.....just a theory we thought of as it is now both bubs. I am not BLAMING the smoking just wondering, nor have I said anything to my sister thankyou - I love my sister, have tact and know how hard things are for her at the moment. I don't want to start a debate, is that possible? Just simply wondered if others had found a connection....

my post wasn't starting a debate. did you read the second point?

"I am not looking for an argument or debate" again equates to agree with my point of view or i will chuck a tanty.

I haven't read all of the responses nor did I smoke through my pregnancies (8 yrs completely nicotine free) BUT what you described was what my DD was like for the first 3-4 months. Turns out I have a fast let down on one side and an EXTREMELY slow let down on the other side resulting in LOADS of bubbles in her little tummy. this made her unsettled and I was not burping her enough to get them all out. Some advice from the ABA helped us and she was a lot more settled AFTER the advice.

Gotta keep in mind too, new babies are getting use to all the new sensations outside from the womb, new feelings of air passing through their systems, brain developing sight, smell the works ... pretty freightening for a little baby with no level of understanding what and why these things happen.

I doubt smoking is a sole reason for the unsettled babies, might contribute in a small way but I doubt its the main reason. If could be reflux, wind colic or just new baby going through development things (which I think is most likely).

If she is concerned about BF she should talk to a lactation consultant at her hossy or hire a private one, or talk to the ABA she has nothing to loose if she wants to continue the BF.

HTH
Nae x

At 1st I worried there may have been a connection but with DS he was an absolutely perfect bub, I bf him for ages & still smoked, slept from 4days old and never even unsettled when teething. DD1 on the other hand has been quite a refluxie bub & began to do ok once on formula but then reverted back, now is on a formula for bubs with reflux and is doing much better again. She still doesn't sleep through most nights (wakes looking for her dummy) but Our time will come when she is ready.
So yeah, to me, I don't think there is a connection, i think each bub just has the luck of the draw when it comes to reflux ect, all she can do is see her doc maybe & get help for it. Bub must be having a horrible time, maybe turn your attention away from what caused it and look into what can help to fix it?? thats all I can suggest. Afterall, there are ALOT of poor little babies out there with reflux of all severities whose mum's never smoked or was ever even around it. ITMS?
Good luck with helping your sister!

In response to OP question

N - smoked through pg and after....reflux baby....other wise perfect baby
W - didnt smoke either before or after...baby from HELL!!!!!! screamed all the time, bugger all sleep...later diagnoses of autism
V - smoked until 26 weeks pg and then quit.....perfect baby :) AFTER she was placed on formula at 6 week sold
m - didnt smoke...had a very rough start to life but the best baby out of all 4 sleep and happyness wise.

I hope thats helped....its hard, maybe your SIL just makes grumpy babies :ROFL:

Thanks, i don't know if it has anything to do with BF was just wondering. I understand BF is best, I am still feeding my DS2 almost 1! Sorry but the first post did come across as having a stab first and even with the ABA info it came across that way..........perhaps I read it wrong....sorry

hmm it's a tough one to answer without getting into an argument/debate... so I guess my story is:
Smoked all through my pregnancy with William, he was a perfect 8 pound baby, who was on 4 hour feeds and slept through the night from the get go... He did have a bit of wind though, but I think that was because of his formula (once I ran out of milk)

My sister however, gave up as soon as she found out she was preggers, with Both kids, her eldest was/ still is!, unable to sleep by himself, had reflux and everything else on the planet... she had a really rough time, her youngest was totally different...

Medically: Nicotine stimulates gastric acid production so yes it's possible, however if she is not smoking around bubs now (and I mean sitting there having a smoke whilst cuddling bubs the effects of the nicotine are likely to have worn off...

From what you have said, I get the impression maybe the breast feeding might be the issue.... might I suggest that she get some of her BM to a doctor to be sent off for analysis, just in case there is something going on there.. (past experience knowledge)

I smoked (heavily) before I knew I was pg (at about 7 weeks I think), continued to smoke although nowhere near as heavily until about 25-30 weeks.

I started smoking again when bubs was about 2 months old? Maybe a little sooner.

Charlotte was a "dream" baby.
She had her moments, but she was fully breastfed until 7months, and we BF until she was 2 year and 7 months with no issues at all.
She did have a brief period of silent reflux about 5-7 months.

There are sooo many other factors which would contribute to an unsettled bubs, the smoking I think is beyond irrelevant - otherwise all of us born to smokers would have been terror babies ;)
I would be looking into allergies, thrush, reflux, bad colic, illness or ear infections, chiro issues as a result of birth... Just so many more reasonable explanations that I would be looking to before making assumptions about smoking, which really will not help her or solve the problem, nor will you ever be able to determine how much, if at all, it has contributed to any problems her kids may or may not have.

I didn't smoke through any of my pregnancies (I was a smoker in the past though) but wanted to say that all 3 of my kids have had reflux, the first and the third with normal chucking reflux, and the second one with silent reflux.

I was told that all my babies would suffer a type of reflux as its something to do with genetics?

i havent smoked since i was pg with ds1 (made ms worse)
but could it be possible shes not eating "right"?
only as with ds1 and dd, i could feed them fine untill arround 2 months when id slip back into my bad eating habbits (snacking on crap instead of meals) they started to get like you descriobed, constantly upset and unsettled
but the minute i put them on formula at 4 months, they were fine.

While I am a social smoker, I've never smoked through a pregnancy & have had 2 reflux/colicy babies. DD2 & DD3. The smell of cigarette smoke & ash made me vomit, so I steered well clear!!