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By Steven Reinberg<\/b>
HealthDay Reporter<\/i><\/p>\n
MONDAY, July 13, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Kids whose moms used pot while pregnant<\/a> may end up with sleep problems<\/a> years later, a new study suggests.<\/p>\n Looking at thousands of 9- and 10-year-olds, University of Colorado researchers found that children were more likely to have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep if their mother had used marijuana<\/a> prenatally.<\/p>\n “While not explicitly causal, the results are consistent with potential long-term effects of prenatal<\/a> cannabis exposure on childhood sleep<\/a>, so mothers should avoid cannabis while pregnant<\/a>, similar to alcohol<\/a>, tobacco and other substances,” said lead researcher Evan Winiger. He’s with the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.<\/p>\n About 7% of pregnant women use pot, and that number is growing as more women try it to alleviate morning sickness<\/a>, the researchers said in background notes.<\/p>\n The new report, involving nearly 12,000 children, used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, a long-term project funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n In that study, mothers were asked if they had used marijuana<\/a> while pregnant and how often. They were also asked how well their children slept.<\/p>\n In all, nearly 700 mothers said they used marijuana while pregnant — 184 used it daily and 262 used it twice or more a day, the findings showed.<\/p>\n After taking into account factors such as the mother’s education, marital status, family income and race, the researchers found a clear link between pot use during pregnancy<\/a> and a child’s sleep<\/a> problems.<\/p>\n Those who used marijuana were significantly more likely to have children who had symptoms of clinical sleep<\/a> issues, such as trouble falling asleep and maintaining sleep<\/a>, waking up during the night and excessive fatigue<\/a> during the day, Winiger said.<\/p>\n The researchers also found that the more often moms-to-be used marijuana, the more likely their kids were to be sleepy during the day<\/a> and to struggle getting up in the morning.<\/p>\n It’s not clear how a pregnant woman’s marijuana use can cause her child to have sleep problems<\/a>, but Winiger made some speculations.<\/p>\n The fetal brain has areas that respond to cannabis, he said. These receptors might affect a child’s sleep cycle, and as cannabis binds to them, it changes how the brain is wired, Winiger said.<\/p>\n He is also not sure that there is any benefit to using marijuana during pregnancy<\/a> to reduce the symptoms of morning sickness<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I am unaware of any studies that show benefits of using cannabis while pregnant in terms of morning sickness,” Winiger said.<\/p>\n “I believe there is decent research showing cannabis can help with nausea<\/a>, and perhaps that is where the idea that it helps with morning sickness comes from. But we should be cautious and hesitant to extend that to a sensitive period such as pregnancy,” Winiger said.<\/p>\n Dr. Ruth Milanaik is director of neonatal<\/a> developmental follow-up programs at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y. She agreed that mothers-to-be should avoid using marijuana.<\/p>\n “While there is no causality implied in this study, this is a concerning finding considering research that shows the wide-ranging importance of sleep on body and mind functioning,” she said.<\/p>\n “Considering these findings and previous warnings from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, pregnant women should continue to minimize exposure to all cannabis products,” Milanaik said.<\/p>\n The report was published online June 28 in the journal Sleep Health<\/i>.<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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