Second-hand and third-hand smoke and vapour are dangerous, especially for babies and children. Passive smoking increases children's risk of early death, lung diseases and other health problems. Vapes contain some of the same harmful chemicals as cigarettes.
Vaping around babies, kids, and pregnant people is unsafe not only because of the exposure to chemicals that include dangerous toxins but also because the long-term side effects are still largely unknown, making the risk potentially higher than science currently understands it.
It's not safe to use vape pens or e-cigarette devices around kids. The vapor from e-cigarettes has chemicals in it that can be harmful to kids. There's another serious problem with e-smoking devices: Kids can get poisoned if they drink the liquid in nicotine delivery devices or refills.
But based on what we know about smoking, e-cigarette vapour and secondhand smoking dangers, the safest route is to avoid vaping around a baby and children as well as around pregnant women. By avoiding exposing them to secondhand vaping, you could be protecting them against serious health problems.
Studies have found that second-hand exposure to vaping can raise nicotine levels in the bloodstream to rates similar to the levels found with second-hand smoke. Many of the e-cigarette chemicals that end up in the air your babies breathe are known to be toxic.
The bottom line: No amount of vaping around your babies and children is considered safe. So it's important to take the proper precautions to avoid exposure to secondhand vaping and get the help or your partner needs to quit.
Yes, second and third-hand smoke and vaping aerosols contain harmful, toxic and cancer-causing chemicals that can be breathed in. They can go into the body through the skin.
Our results suggest that particles exhaled following use of the e-cigarette devices tested are actually liquid droplets constituted of volatile compounds from the e-liquid. These particles evaporate very fast and disappear 10–15 seconds after the puff, transferring to vapor volatile organic compounds.
If your child has been in contact with vaping products you should monitor them closely and seek medical advice immediately as seizures can begin only 20-30 minutes after swelling products containing nicotine, according to Poison Control.
This is why we advise that smokers should wait for 30 minutes after smoking before picking up a baby, making sure they wash their hands first.
There are several studies done that all indicate the same result: indoor vaping is not bad for the indoor environment, and there is no evidence to say that it is.
There is no good evidence that second-hand vapour from e-cigarettes is harmful. As vaping is still relatively new, we can't be sure there aren't any long-term effects to people who breathe in someone else's vapour. But this is unlikely to be harmful. Passive vaping is not the same as passive smoking.
Can mothers who use tobacco or e-cigarettes breastfeed their infant? Yes. Mothers who use tobacco or e-cigarettes should be encouraged to quit; regardless, breastfeeding provides numerous health benefits and breast milk remains the recommended food for an infant.
Using e-cigarettes around your baby
As there is no direct research on using e cigarettes and SIDS, we suggest you do not share a bed with your baby if you use e cigarettes. The safest option is to give up smoking entirely, but if you choose to use e cigarettes instead then this is likely to be much safer.
Just a small amount of liquid nicotine can be deadly to a child. Poisoning can happen in two ways: when the liquid is swallowed or when it is absorbed through the skin.
Nicotine poisoning often causes nausea, vomiting, dizziness, tremors (shakiness), and sweating, and can make the heart beat much faster than normal. Severe poisoning can cause seizures. It can even cause death.
While particles from conventional cigarette smoke linger in the air for upwards of 45 minutes, researchers found that those stemming from e-vapor products evaporate within seconds, even indoors.
Second-hand smoke or vapour contains toxic chemicals – like nicotine – that your partner can breathe in. These chemicals can travel through your partner's bloodstream and pass directly to your baby. You also make third-hand smoke or vapour. This is what's left behind after you've been smoking or vaping.
For e-cigarettes, the study found that even in a room with no ventilation, the liquid aerosol droplets evaporated so quickly that the particle concentration in the air returned to background levels within seconds.
This heated fluid creates a vapor made up of tiny droplets that looks like cigarette smoke. Just like tobacco smoke, e-cigarette vapor sticks to clothes, furniture, and other surfaces creating thirdhand smoke. Research has found nicotine residue from e-cigarettes on indoor surfaces days after vaping had stopped.
“We also observed that when patients ceased vaping, they had a partial reversal of the condition over one to four years, though not complete due to residual scarring in the lung tissue.”
1: Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it's still not safe. E-cigarettes heat nicotine (extracted from tobacco), flavorings and other chemicals to create an aerosol that you inhale. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic.
The smell of the vapor varies accordingly, depending on the flavors. Some are fruity while some exude that mint effect. And if you use a high level of nicotine, then you can expect strong odors to linger in the room.
Its chemical makeup means that over time, even in e-cigarette vapour, it will lead to visible stains. Of course, vapour will do far less damage than tobacco smoke does, but it is still an inevitability that will, over time stain a wall.