babies born with methadone addiction

hey i had my boy 3weeks ago he still in hospital being weaned of oramorph the drud to help wean from methadone i was only on 5mls and he not showin bad signs he dosn hav high pitched cry just snezzing and arms tight he sleeps for 4hours at time and putin on weight fast he was 6pound11and half oz he now 8pound6oz some babys get withdrawls others dnt others take longer to come off it its just up to them how they manage

Hi I'm new to this thread... I just want my story heard so other pregnant women can be prepared for a NAS baby if it happens to them..anyway I gave birth via csection to a beautiful 7lbs 15oz baby boy on feb.15,2013.. I am in the suboxone program but my doc switched me to subutex when I was 10 weeks prego.. He told me my baby would be fine cause he said subutex doesn't go through placenta! Well he was wrong! My son was fine until 26 hours then the nicu doctor broke the news my baby was going to nicu for mild w/d & was going to be on morphine! I was & still am devastated!! :( here we are 14 days later & he's still in nicu! But he's tampering off the morphine great! I pretty much live there with him! It breaks my heart to see him get the morphine! I was on 8 mgs a day & the nicu doctor told me it doesn't matter how much or how little your on! There is a new study showing that it's something in the baby's metabolism & genes!! She also told me if I would have quit my subutex while prego my baby probably wouldn't be here!

well in oklahoma they do not detox the newborns they leave that to the foster mothers after they take the kids away from their mothers. yes the doc have told us the newborn will develop more slowly then other kids. and it is just horrible to watch a baby only sleep 15 or 25 min at a time, to cry and draw their little legs up then get as stiff as a board. i want to kill the sorry assed mother for doing this to her child.and she wasn't going to a methadone clinic, she was buying her off the drug dealer on the corner.
i have had family members on drugs and the way they got off was they got tired of sleeping in the park with nothing to eat the checked into a good rehab and went cold turkey, one was on cocain and meth for 15 yrs the other for 10 yrs, both are very productive members of the community now, own their own homes and are hard workers, but for all you looser mothers stop the dam methadone and get clean. you are only kiddng yourself when you say it doesn't hurt the baby

That is a normal drug to treat any opiate withdrawal.. Most hospitals wont release the child if they are still on any detox meds - but it's not unheard of. She wont have any long term side effects. Just ask any pediatrician. I had my daughter on methadone. She is now a perfectly healthy 2 yr old who has met all of her milestoles faster than normal.

In reply to Guest's argument that it is safe to take methodone during pregnancy; YOU ARE AN id**t

My twins are in the nicu unit as well they were born on st pattys day and both were addicted to methadone..people talk junk but wouldu rather our children be addicted to heroine!?!?!?! or pills!??!? mine didnt show any signs of withdrawal for 4 days after they were born thesame day i was discharged as well.. i had a c section... they are still in the nicu and they are getting better i was 5 weeks early! they were breached and i had to have an emergency c section.. Imagreeing with you as well.. mothers that dont take anything sometimes have worse problems!!!! our children are being properlycared for and every thing i read about the morphine detox instead of methadone seems to be working fine... they are feeling a littlebetter finally taking their bottles.. sloppily but taking them!!! so everyone who wants to talk junk READ INTO IT... WE R TRYING OUR BEST.. SO UNDERSTAND THAT AND UNDERSTAND THAT OUR KIDS WONT HAVE PROBLEMS.. IF U READ ABOUT IT YOULL SEE!!! I DONT NOD OUT... I THINK CLEARLY.. IT HELPS ME... IVE BEEN CLEAN FOR YEARS AND PLAN ON STAYING THAT WAY METHADONE SAVED MY LIFE!!! IT DOES NOT MAKE YOU "HIGH" IF UR USED TO UR DOSE... SO IF UVE NEVER BEEN ON IT THAN DONT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT CUZ U SIMPLY DONT KNOW!!!! IM IN SCHOOL TO BE A SUBSTANCE ABUSE COUNSELOR AND BEFORE TALKING RESEARCH IT!

My cousin was addicted to herion and when became pregnant stared taking suboxone. Im aware that the baby will have to stay in the hospital for awhile due to withdrawls. Will I be allowed to hold her after right after birth or is she sent to a different room immediately? How many people will be alowed in the room during birth in this situation? how long will the baby have to stay? can i hold and visit her days later or is only the parents allowed visitation? Im trying to get prepared for her arrival. can someone fill me in a little on what happens when its time to deliver? Is it different from a normal birth?

Promoting media hype, mis guided statements and plain out lies has resulted in a nation of clowns. Science is still searching for the reported "Crack Baby" of the 80's, to this day one has not been found. That's hard to believe after such media hype over "Crack Babies". Most Americans today still believe there are Crack Babies.
In more than 20 years of research, none of the leading experts in the field have identified a recognizable condition, syndrome, or disorder that should be termed “crack baby” (See Open Letter To the Media, February 25, 2004). Rather than learning from its alarmist and false reporting about pregnant women and cocaine use (e.g., New York Times, The Epidemic That Wasn't, Jan. 26, 2009), media outlets have now irresponsibly revived the term “crack baby” and created new, equally unfounded and pejorative labels such as “oxy babies” or “oxy tots.” (FoxNews, 'Oxytots' Victims of Prescription Drug Abuse, October 28, 2011; The Examiner, "Oxytots": A National Disgrace, Oct. 30, 2011) (http://idhdp.com/media/32950/rnewmanopenexpertletter_-_3.11.13.pdf)
The evidence for the efficacy of methadone maintenance treatment – most particularly its use in the care of pregnant women – has been overwhelmingly consistent for almost half a century. The highest U.S. government authority on drug abuse treatment, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, summed it up in a pamphlet it produced several years ago and continues to distribute. It is directed to pregnant, opiate-dependent women and states in unusually clear and concise terms: “If you’re pregnant and using drugs such as heroin or abusing opioid prescription pain killers, it’s important that you get help for yourself and your unborn baby. Methadone maintenance treatment can help you stop using those drugs. It is safe for the baby, keeps you free of withdrawal, and gives you a chance to take care of yourself … Methadone maintenance treatment can save your baby’s life.” Recently, buprenorphine treatment has also been used effectively to treat opiate addiction in pregnant women. (http://idhdp.com/media/32950/rnewmanopenexpertletter_-_3.11.13.pdf)
More information based upon science not the uneducated that post to this site, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/3/e1009.full.html

I am currently pregnant and 2 weeks away from my delivery date. i am now on 60 mg of methadone a day. i have heard so many things about how i am harming my baby by being on methadone and it kills me. i dont know what else to do in this situation, i was already on methadone when i found out i was pregnant and every professional i talked to told me absolutely 'do not' try to come off of it because i would lose my baby. so what does anyone expect me to do? i feel like i am doing the right thing by staying in treatment but why do i still feel so guilty every time i take my dose? i am so uneducated on the effects that methadone will have on my baby after he is born. i know he can go thru some withdraw and it kills me to think about him being in that much pain and suffering because of me. yet....some things i have researched say that the withdraw on babies is not that bad. iguess its according to th eperson and the situation cause everyone is different. i know i had no other choice but to stay on methadone throughout my pregnancy but it still hurts me emotionally so bad.

i just found out that my sons GF is on Meth!!! She is 7 months pregnant and did not tell her doctor of her addiction~(YES, SHE IS ADDICTED TO METH) I am not only heartbroken...I'm contemplating telling her doctor. Advice appreciated (& of course prayers).

Thank you

damn un really should not be a nurse talking like that, i wouldnt want you near me!! It sounds like you need mental help.. Get a F****** clue lady... I hope you lose your job

Extremely helpful ...thank you. My daughter was put on methadone as she had botched surgery as a teenager and needed pain killers to which she became addicted. She has just given birth and baby is being treated for withdrawal. The guilt for these mothers is so extreme and the preconceived prejudices that you speak of are a horrible form of punishment as if they aren't suffering enough. I thank you again for bringing light into a very dark place.....I hope you are blessed.

Just wondering if anyone actually "read" the OP? There was a clear definition of what "addicted" means and why newborns born to mothers who take whatever-it-is they take are NOT "addicted". Re-read, slower if necessary. Perhaps they are born dependant, and go through a physiological w/d...which clearly the article states is easily and safely remedied and backs up this statement with evidence based research. I mean, whatever, personally never had to deal with it. Hope I never have to but my heart goes out to those who do. I'm just saying that in the ensuing comments- as far as i could stomach to read- (admittedly not long) nobody addressed the actual intent of the OP. Which is the psychosocial consequences of labeling a baby an "addict", a "crack baby" or worse and of the mothers...and of the harm that the stigma of this issue is WORSE than the issue itself and SO FORTH. There will be addicts no matter what. Enabling a stigma may prevent and disenclurage more women from getting adequate prenatal care...ADEQUATE PRENATAL CARE IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PREDICTOR OF INFANT MORTALITY. More babies die from lack of prenatal care then they ever will from drug/methadone use. That's a fact, look it up.

This is so not true. Every baby is different. Im raising my great nephew who went through 2 1/2 months of with drawling from methadone, at birth. It was horrible. The nurses goal for him everyday was to be happy. He was so uncomfortable he cried constantly, his little body twitched, he consistently spit up, as well as other symptoms. So sad......

My brother met a girl. Her history is she had first baby at 14 the state of conn incarcerated her boyfriend for statutory rape. At 14 she was addicted to all sorts of drugs. her mom adopted her daughter. She continued to abuse sex and drugs until she was 24. She got preggers again she was with Tom this time. She got pulled over with her 2 year old and drugs in her car and went to jail. When she got out of jail she stole her grannies cc and about 5000 dollars for drugs. Lost custody of son. Went to jail again. Went to rehab. Where she met Ryan and got preggers yet again. Now not only was she on legal methadone she also solicited adarall and other drugs like xtasy, some other anti-psychotics. She drank 5 cups of coffee per day, smoked 10 newport 100's a day did methadone bc now her free dose was 130mg per day bc she was preggers. She also did addarall. Her poor baby was born with all of the side effects from this man made drug called methadone . Her poor baby had to be on morphine for 3 weeks and wasn't allowed to go home until she was off morphine. Some would say poor baby. She said poor baby. She also said this baby will change my life forever and she was sweating like a pig. Then she met my grossly obese brother. So insecure he actually stalked her until she decided better to have his money than no one. During this horrible first year of their wonderful relationship, she continued to do methadone everyday she continued to use other opiates she o'd 4 times. ( she would only o'd on the holidays) She has spent thousands on drugs. the thousands she gets from the state because her baby daddies do not want her. She is a polluted person and she had the balls to get pregnant again with my brother's baby.