babies born with methadone addiction

that is right plezz dont do that o.O

Have you ever seen someone abruptly stop taking opiates? It's not pretty; the vomiting alone would probably cause a miscarriage. Methadone is NOT that bad for the child; as long as the mom doesn't overdose, it has not been proven to have any effect on the fetus. Many detoxing hippies in the 70s used methadone while pregnant to wean off heroin. It's a highly personal decision that is none of my business.


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Hi how are you? I just had my son on monday and he was born addicted to methadone. I was wondering if you knew how long he has to stay in the hospital?? I am sooo stressed out and I feel like a worthless piece of c**p. please write back.

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iam pregnant at the moment and iam on 55mils of methdon came down frm 70mils
i am cuming down 5 mils every week it can be done quiet easily u have to have the will power to do it
i already have a daughter and i was on herion for the first 7mths of my pregnancy and my daughter was born small and early but now she is 3yrs old and doing great meeting all her things she should b doin at this age
she is a wonderfull child whom i love dearly
dont listen to doctors cum of your methadon it is the best thing to do for both yourself and your new born
my sisters baby boy was born addicted to methadon and it is a tough time not only for his mum and dad but the whole family.
so any1 who is reading ths please try and get clean foir the sake of your unborn child it will break your heart to see your baby (your own flesh & blood )withdrawing
thts why now i will come of my methadon and stay clean for ever for the sake of my 2 babys

i think it is great that you are thinking of your unborn child. My boyfriend and I are currently raising my nephew who was born addicted to methadone, he is a wonderful 6 monthold however i do notice differences in his behavor compared to my own children who were born healthy with no addiction. he goes through bouts of not sleeping

but nobehavioral problems. But were i live dr encourage pregnant methadone addicts are encouraged to stay on the methadone while pregnant, my niece (the mother) has had several children addicted and removed from her care and continues to have children and use drugs tests dirty for other stuff, when do they stop giving chances. My nephew could very well be placed back into her care. enough is enough STOP HAVING BABIES if you can not stay clean!

I would like to ask the young lady that adopted her 19 yr old sister, does she suffer from migraines or numbness from headaches?

I JUST had a 8 pound 13 oz baby boy born on methadone, he was just release from the hospital after a month and a half. He was given opium to detox, and is now on phenobarbital for 2 weeks, so far he is doing great. i was on 80 mg of methadone and 1.5 mg of klonopin. i had him full term, the bad thing is that CPS(child protective services) got involved because he was born addicted and took custody and put him in foster care, luckily my parent took custody and since he was in the hospiatl while the decsiaon was made he never went to foster care, but i go backto court ont the 16th of this month. I never used drugs while i was pregnant, and it is devestating that these government workers can just come in and make descions on someones child based on their past hustory of drug use. It looks like the case will be dismissed and my husband and i will have custody ,but i willl be under their watchful eye and drug testing for them for the next 6 months, This government child services is breaking up families and causing financialo, emotional, and unneedd chaos and it is horrible what they do to families. They should be focusing on child molesters and abusers, not ''what if'' cases.......

The purpose of this site is to educate each other through our knowledge and experiences and of course opinions will be presented because we all form judgments surrounding our experiences. I have a few points to make and since many people on this site/blog seem to be very concerned with credentials, I have a B.S. in Psychology and am currently a full time student in Smith College's MSW program. I am not a doctor but I am a social scientist and have life and work experience; interpret that however you would like. I would like to highlight that there is little research concerning the long term effects of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (opiate withdrawal) therefore we cannot truly give an answer about long term effects- people say children "should" experience typical/normal development but I would like to read about studies indicating there are no long term physiological effects. Here is one link to a site giving more information about the research that is currently being done: ***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed
Many people have commented on the lifestyle of a person abusing heroin and one using methadone. The lifestyle of a heroin addict is typically much more destructive but I would like to point out that those who use methadone are addicts as well. Although methadone is prescribed, it is still a drug and will cause withdrawal symptoms. The purpose to using methadone is to stop opiate dependence and change the environmental factors contributing to opiate addiction. Why bring a child into the world who has a physiological need for a drug? It is too simple to use a condom for there to be any excuse for a child to experience their first few weeks of life with withdrawal symptoms. I think methadone has many wonderful qualities and positively changes the lives of many opiate addicts; however, why conceive a child addicted to a man made substance? Why would the Department of Child and Family Services automatically investigate methadone users having a child if it was okay for a baby to be born addicted to methadone? There is a range of withdrawal symptoms and the severity of symptoms will vary with each baby but the point is the child will be affected to some degree.

i just had to create an account after reading what you had wrote. you do not know all of your facts, my doctor had given me 3 options when i was pregnant. and i was not on herion to get on methondone either. option 1-continue taking my perc's and my baby girl could have a neuroligcal disorder option 2 withdrawl and my daughter could have died in utero, when a pregnant woman withdrawl she puts off a certian chemical in her plancnta and that triggers the mom to have a misscarriage, or option 3 get on methondone and then the only issue would be my daughter would have to withdrawl, well considering i have a son who has a neurolical disorder allready b/c when i was pregnant with him i would only take maybe one perc or less a week, so i didnt want my daughter to have to go through what he does for the rest of her life like my son has to, and option 2 i was allready about 5 months when i moved back to my home state and got my prenanel care here and i wasnt about to let my baby die, so i choose methondone.. and no she does not cry all the time, she has her fussy periods but for the most part she is ok.. and yes it sucks to have to watch my baby girl go through the withdrawls but the hosptial give's methodone babies meds to help them deal with the withdrawl, it is clearly not as bad as you think. and as for these woman of who you speak of about nodding out, that is not from the methondone alone they are taking other meds on top of the methondone to make them nod out like that, most likely xnax. and i have no idea what program your talking about who does not test for the drugs in the mom's system, i was clearly tested and yes you can get on methodone without being a herion user, all you have to do is have any kind of opit in your system, and one more thing, if you take methodone by your doctor as perscribed you do not get high off of methodone alone...... please get all of your facts straight before you bash us mom's who had to get on the methodone for a good reason not b/c we wanted to... i am a mother of 5 children.. i love my kids very much and my new arrival is doing very good she should be home soon...

well i just had my now 3 week old daughter, i was on methodone b/c i was addicted to perc's for cronic pain i have, u r so lucky that ur twins didnt go through any withdrawl. my daughter is still detoxing in the hosptial, it sucks so bad she is going through that, but i know she is being taken good care of at the hosptial, i go see her everyday and she has her fussy periods but nothing so horrible.. she did have 1 day where she didnt do good and that was b/c that day was the day that her body didnt have anymore of my methodne in her, she only has now what the doc's give her.. but she is doing ok.. i was on a stable dosage i took 70 mils a day and like i said she still in the hosptial, so really it all depends on your baby, every baby is differnt, if they have to withdrawl, yes it sucks but if they dont like ur twins that is so great....

I had a daughter addicted to methadone she is now 3 years old . she was in the hospital for only a week for observation. she has shown no signs of any adverse effects from withdrawl symptoms. she had no problems with learning to walk, talk , potty she knows how to count and knows her alphabet. People can be soo ridiculous with the ignorant things they say . my best advice is to ask a dr. about the long term effects but as far as my daug. goes shes happy healthy and fine.

Everyone who had a nasty comment has never been in the shoes of the ones they are talking about. Per usual. I came to this site for some new insight on this subject and of course, those freaks that have to preach to themselves took control over a topic that had nothing to do with them. Your opinion is null because you have no idea what you are even dealing with.
Anyway thanks to the women for sharing their stories. I was wondering how long typically most babies would stay in the hospital after being born and maybe facing withdrawels. So thanks to the Women who took the time to share their experiences and to the others your not worth even mentioning.

medhelpman85 wrote:

Well, I have been on Methadone for 11 years and yes I agree somewhat with "medhelpman85" except that the adult taking methadone (the pregnant mother to be) is absorbing the bulk of the methadone taken.  Methadone dependancy in babies, (born to Methadone dependant mothers) is minimal, and withdrawal symptoms are generally low & can be reversed after the birth.  I have a couple of friends who gave birth to methadone babies and they were totally fine.  If the baby is breastfed by the natural mother for the first 72 hours after birth, the baby will have a much lower chance of withdrawals because the baby will receive small amounts of methadone through the breast-milk/fluid which is usually enough to ween the baby off.  If the mother used other drugs of dependancy such as heroin, benzodiazapines(Serapax, Xanex, Valium etc), alcohol or other illicit drugs as well as methadone throughout the pregnancy there is a greater chance the baby will be born drug dependant, premature or in need of a longer stay in hospital than non-dependant babies and hospital staff will carefully ween the baby off. I have never heard of anybody dying as a result of methadone or heroin withdrawals.  Your baby will not die as a result of withdrawals and should be quite happy & comfortable, eating & sleeping normally, as long as the babies are given the proper hospital care required for a methadone baby. As for long-term the children you have adopted should have just as great a chance in life as any other child once the baby is deemed fit to leave the hospital after birth.  Good luck, try not to worry too much and if you're really concerned, consult a proffessional. Bless the children as they are stronger at handling withdrawals than the adults, as they know not what to expect.  Knowledge may be power.....but sometimes ignorance is bliss!
:-D

My bestfriend has had 2 babies born on methadone so she says.  Ihave notice my friend will do anything to have that drug what makes it different than any other drug out there.  I can understand for ppl in a lot of pain. But for crack addicts and pill poppers. The lady who said that the government just wants to make money is right.  It is time we do something for babies who are born on this drug.  We get dcf callled for crack babies, horin babies, alchol born babies. What is the difference? The babies do suffer for a while dont they

 

My son is great he is above average intellectually.  He is 18 months now.  However when he was born he was addicted to methadone.  Seeing him go through it I will never let another child of mine be born to it.  He cried uncontrollably, had to have a tube down his nose so that he could be fed before I was able to breastfeed otherwise he could have died as babies born on methadone don't have the energy to work for their food.  He was incredibly sick for a month or so.  Was weined off methadone using morphine.  I thimk its a whole lot of crock that babies born on methadone have more of a chance of surviving than children born on heroin.  I know people who used heroin their whole pregnancy and the baby was fine.