Before you got pregnant, you became accustomed to using CBD for some health condition or other — maybe you have achy joints that benefit from a CBD salve, or maybe you take a dose of CBD every night to ensure more restful sleep. However, now that you are growing a new addition to your family, you might be wondering: Is CBD safe for me and baby?
THC Is Definitely Not Safe
To start, it is important to draw a stark line between CBD and its cousin cannabinoid, THC. Comparing CBD vs. THC is important because THC can be exceedingly dangerous to expecting mothers and their growing babies.
Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the most common compound in marijuana, or non-hemp cannabis. In nature, the cannabinoid helps to protect the plant from pests and predators as well as keep it safe from excess moisture and UV rays, but when used as a drug, THC is the primary reason weed gets users high.
When THC enters the bloodstream, it binds to receptors because it looks remarkably like a molecule the body produces naturally, anandamide. Also called “the bliss molecule,” anandamide has several functions in the human body beyond inspiring happiness; it facilitates the immune system, digestive system and memory, and important to expecting mothers, anandamide is also critical for proper reproductive health and in the development of embryos during the earliest stages of pregnancy.
For this reason and others, many doctors and researchers believe that using THC at any time during pregnancy could be risky. Though studies vary in their findings, with some suggesting that THC is a serious developmental neurotoxin and others claiming the compound is totally safe to fetuses, its generally a good idea to keep your distance from any psychoactive cannabis products until you deliver — and even later, if you plan to breastfeed.
It is important to note that we aren’t suggesting that good moms can’t smoke weed. On the contrary, parents who are not pregnant or breastfeeding shouldn’t feel any stigma for relying on a safe and natural drug, either for medical or recreational purposes, as long as they are using marijuana responsibly. However, to minimize the risk of miscarriage, birth defects or developmental delays, it might not be wise to partake for as long as your kid relies on your body for health.
If You Tend to Err on the Safe Side…
Different people approach pregnancy with different attitudes. Some know all the prohibitions backwards and forwards; they purge their homes of anything that contains even trace amounts of potentially hazardous substances, and they continue to maintain strict rules about food, skincare and the like for months postpartum. If this sounds like you, you might not want to use CBD during your pregnancy.
The truth is that researchers aren’t quite sure what CBD does once it enters the bloodstream. Some believe that CBD binds to other receptors in the human body, while other researchers believe that CBD merely affects the efficacy of certain receptors or neurotransmitters. Certainly, CBD research is seeing a massive influx in funding which will likely shine a light on how the molecule behaves and its precise effects, but until then, there are giant question marks surrounding how CBD could interact with a growing fetus. Thus, if you don’t tend to take any kind of risks during your pregnancy — and if your pregnancy is already high-risk as it is — it might be best to set CBD aside for the next few months.
If You Are Willing to Take a Risk…
Then again, there are people who play their pregnancies a bit fast and loose. This isn’t to say that some mothers care so little for their babies that they willingly endanger them with definitely dangerous activities like drinking alcohol or using hard drugs. Rather, it means that some will occasionally participate in benign dangers, like eating fish or using face wash, without fearing for the health and wellness of their unborn child.
If you aren’t afraid to drink a cup of coffee or take a Tylenol, you might be willing to dabble in CBD — but only with CBD topicals. Topical CBD products, like lotions and salves, barely penetrate beyond the first couple layers of skin, meaning little if any CBD gets into the bloodstream. As a result, it is likely safe to apply CBD to areas of the body that experience aches and pains during pregnancy, like the low back or the feet.
Pregnancy upsets the normal balance of life in so many ways. Pregnant women already give up so much to keep their growing baby happy and healthy — and depending on your outlook, CBD might be just another substance you can’t use until your delivery day.
