Cannabis & Pregnancy: Can marijuana use during pregnancy harm the baby?

For many people, cannabis is medicine they use to numb pain from a multitude of physical and mental ailments. It is also well known that sometimes pregnancy can be extremely painful for nine months. Back pain, abdominal and leg cramps, dental pain, heartburn, pinched nerves, headache, and swollen feet are only some of the possible symptoms that one can experience while pregnant. With all these pains, is it possible to use cannabis while pregnant without harming the baby?

“marijuana use during pregnancy can be harmful to your baby’s health. The chemicals in marijuana (in particular, THC) pass through your system to your baby and may harm your baby’s development.”

They go on to explain that there is not a lot of research that has been done on the effects of marijuana use during pregnancy, but it is still not recommended to partake while pregnant.

Additionally, smoke and second-hand smoke are harmful to both you and the baby, cigarettes, and cannabis. Of the research that has been done, it can be concluded that marijuana causes a higher risk for lower birth weight and abnormal neurological development. As the baby develops, “studies suggest that marijuana use by persons during pregnancy could be linked to problems with attention, memory, problemsolving skills, and behavior in their children later in life.”

It is important to note that there has been no human research on cannabis and miscarriages but in animal studies, there have been data that suggested early use may contribute to them. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has seen that the chance of having a stillbirth grows by over two percent, while that might not be much it is enough to warrant a pause before using marijuana while pregnant. Although it has been recorded that some dispensaries recommend some of their products as anti-nausea medication.

What about after the baby is born? Will cannabis be present in your breast milk and harm the baby?

“The health effects of a breastfeeding person’s use of marijuana on their infant or baby are not yet fully known. We do know that chemicals from marijuana can be passed to a baby through breast milk. THC is stored in body fat and is slowly released over time, meaning a baby could still be exposed even after a person has stopped using marijuana. Thus, persons who are breastfeeding are encouraged to avoid all marijuana use”.

Breast milk can be easily influenced by what you eat and drink, for example drinking alcohol while breastfeeding can make the milk come out alcoholic as well (food allergens come through the same way). This could be the case for THC and CBD getting through to the baby.

Speaking of CBD, experts even say not to try using it during pregnancy either even though it isn’t psychoactive. Another reason not to use cannabis during pregnancy is that you can be intaking other dangerous ingredients like pesticides, heavy metals, bacteria, and fungus, all of which can be potentially harmful to the baby. For now, until there is more conclusive research it is simply a better idea to avoid it and use pain killers that are recommended for pregnancy, you could even still go natural as long as the research suggests the baby will be fine. Basically, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

However, two years ago Columbia University and its Department of Psychiatry completed a decades-long study on cannabis and pregnancy. They concluded that

“PRENATAL CANNABIS EXPOSURE DOES NOT LEAD TO COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS.”

According to their study, there are few actually recorded effects, positive or negative. While there are limitations in research and literature on this subject there are still areas that seem to lead us to the conclusion that cannabis may be safer during pregnancy than we think. Regardless of these findings, if you choose to use cannabis during your pregnancy it may be helpful to do your own research before you make a concrete decision. Always take information with a grain of salt as there is still so little clinical research that has been done on humans and in general.

For now, the general consensus is not to use cannabis during your pregnancy or while breastfeeding. The amount of purported cannabis use during pregnancy is low, as is the count of those that tested positive for cannabis without reporting use. It is still very much a minority as most people opt for sober and/or all-natural pregnancies. If you are pregnant or planning to be pregnant, we at Chronic wish you the best! Whatever you plan to do, be safe and do your research.