Mother shocks internet with photo of herself 'smoking a bong' while breastfeeding

An Oregon mother has incurred the wrath of social media after uploading a photo of herself smoking from a bong while breastfeeding.

Kayla Marlow uploaded the image to a cannabis parenting support group on Facebook, the Daily Mail reports. Marlowe lives in Portland, where marijuana is legal.

The image shows her leaning over to inhale from a bong held by a friend, as her newborn infant feeds from her right breast.

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"Needed a safe place to share this beautiful picture," Marlow wrote on the post uploaded to CannaParentingSupport.V.420.

Some commenters applauded her for her actions.

But other commenters criticised the post in more or less vitriolic terms.

"I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure a newborn child breathing anything besides air is probably bad," wrote one man named Richard.

Both the Facebook page and Marlow's profile appear to have been taken down.

Doctors have long frowned upon smoking while breastfeeding, and although there has been limited scientific evidence over the risks of secondhand marijuana smoke, experts do not recommend exposing children to it.

According to NPR, there is evidence that children can absorb chemicals from the smoke or vapour, while even low amounts of THC - marijuana's psychoactive ingredient - can cause developmental problems in infants whose mothers smoked the drug before giving birth. THC can be ingested through a mother's breast milk.

The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends against breastfeeding mothers using marijuana, the Daily Mail says.