I have a coworker that just had a baby and she is breast feeding. she has informed me that she is smoking marijuana. i tried to google how long it stays in your breast milk but could not find any answers. please help me educate her before her baby is expo

Get her to stop: No baby should be exposed to marijuana. A recent study showed a significant reduction in iq in teenagers who use marijuana on a regular basis. Imagine the effect that it would have on a developing fetus. If your friend cares about her baby then she will stop smoking marijuana. The effects could be dramatic.

Doesn't matter: Thc can remain in fatty tissues for a very long half-life (weeks). But it doesn't matter how long it stays, any exposure of a newborn baby to pot is grounds for reporting the parent for child abuse in most states.

Baby is exposed: We don't know exactly how long marijuana stays in breast milk. We do know that thc (one of the active compounds in marijuana) can be concentrated in breast milk, especially with ongoing use. In adults, its half-life is 1-3 days, with traces persisting for up to 4-6 weeks. It gets into brain & adipose tissue (like breast) quickly & stays for weeks to months. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20130780.

Stays a long time: The half life of cannabis in breast milk ranges 25-57hrs depending on the study. There are conflicting outcome studies, some show little developmental impact some show delay.The only clear negative is reduced head size by a year. The drug is listed as l5/contraindicated in "medications and mothers milk, t.Hale 14ed.2010.