what to expect with a baby addicted to methadone and xanax?

okay most of u obviously have no idea about the whole methadone program some of u are even getting it confused with meth. so i have a 2year old son whom was born while i was on methadone they tested us both and watched us both for 3 days as i continued to take methadone and he never one time experienced any withdrawl symtoms yes it can happen but in most cases and with myself nothing just a very healthy baby boy!! who is even advanced for his age!! in my opnion its all genetics if ur child is slow they were gonna be slow weather u were on methadone or not i dunno everything but people posting stuff about not thinking about ur child is c**p!! i love my son to death and he saved my life he got me to get help and save both of our lives so to all u people out there sayin to not take ne thing u dont know anythi ng about addiction n the first place but go to ur doctor if ur prego and get addvice from them they know best and xnax is awful but dont try to quit cold turkey that either

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scared mom of 2 wrote:

I am 5 months pregnant and am on methadone but have not used drugs in 2 years and have had the same dose through out this time. The first 2 pragnecys where text book, drug free and i am concerned about what could happen with this one.I have little knowlage about the detox of the baby and long term effects it will have.

I had 2 babies while I was on Methadone. I went to the best doctor in the state and took good care of myself. Now to your question. There is no evidence of long term effects on the physical or mental development to the baby short or long term. The baby will more tha likley be weaned off the methadone with morphine and slowly taper. My Doc let me breast feed but be careful as methadne is passed thru the breast milk. I stopped after the baby was done with the morphine. That took about 4 weeks. It goes by really fast and the hospital staff should make it as comfortable as possible. Ask many questions. Bond with your baby. be grateful. By the way you may have to go up on your dose as you get further along. hope this helps. my kids are 2yr and 4yr. and smart as a whip, funny, and fantastic. no difference at all from other kids.

Ok so what if everyone cant go to (THE BEST DOCTOR?) My dad works with this woman her daughter did drugs and was on meth the entire time she was pregnant and she lost the baby so now the grandmother has him. But I went to babysit for her one night and this baby all he did was shake and nonstop screaming he has seizures and some time he stops breathing. So there is some kids that do have a problem. And another question do you guys take meth by choice while you are pregnant or what is the deal???????????

Hello. I am not here to judge. That is God's JOB. I am here to share info. My husband and I adopted a boy at 6 mths of age. He was addicted to Methadone when he was born. He would shake, have tremors, and scream constantly. He would sleep only 15 minutes at a time maybe every 4 hours. He was EXHAUSTED. So were we. We had the opportunity of knowing the biological parents of our son. Addicts of heroin and Xanax. I understand the Methadone program is available to keep addicts off of street drugs. God only knows what is really in those drugs. It is like a "Catch 22" situation. I don't agree with having a baby while on drugs. I don't agree with legal methadone use. I do think it saved my sons life but it also hindered his development. He has been delayed his whole life. All 5 years. For those of you that have children that are healthy and thriving w/out complications I think you should get down on you hands and knees and thank the Lord above. Not a day goes by that we don't have an issue with this beautiful boy. Someone earlier in the post mentioned that an "Accidental" pregnancy could occur...True. My son has 6 other siblings that were also born addicted and two half siblings that were watching while this occured. Please don't put a victim label on the addict. It does boil down to the ultimate choice. Yours. I have watched the biological father of this child struggle for 7 years to get clean. I am not going to minimize his desire to be clean and the lessons he has gained during this. He has loved and lost during this. I hope that with his 1 year clean (no methadone)he can continue down a positive path helping others that need that positive reinforcement he can give thru experience. I do not personally know what it is like to be dopesick but I can only imagine the horror. I pray for each of you that are still battling this.

I am a NICU and newborn nursery nurse and routinely take care of methadone babies.



Any baby born to a mother who is taking methadone should be monitored as an inpatient for SEVEN days, as withdrawal symptoms can occur as late as five to seven days after delivery. I'm amazed they let your grandson go home at three days.



Every now and then, we will admit a baby who has no signs or symptoms of withdrawal (called Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome or NAS) and do just fine. It is not common, and largely depends on the dosage mom took and how carefully she follows doctor's orders.



The majority of the babies we see get some degree of NAS (about 90%). Of those, about 75% go on methadone. Some places will release the baby to the mother on methadone, where I work, we do not, and if it takes 3 months to wean the baby, we keep them that long (and it has happened MANY times)



Symptoms of Methadone withdrawal include extreme irritability, tremors, poor feeding, diarrhea with HORRIBLE diaper rash, excessive need to suck (like on a pacifier CONSTANTLY), high fevers, vomiting, excessive sneezing, tight or stiff muscle tone, and continuous crying. They can also have seizures, which is why we give methadone. any baby that has high NAS scoring will be put on methadone to prevent siezures, because the siezures can cause brain damage. Infants get NAS scoring every six hours from birth, and then as the score starts to go up, we will monitor more frequently as needed, and treat when it becomes necessary.



If you are on methadone when you get pregnant, the absolute WORST thing you can do is stop taking the methadone. A pregnant mother going through withdrawal will miscarry. Think of it this way, pregnancy is a stress on your body, and so is drug withdrawal. If both start at the same time, your body is going to try to protect itself, and get rid of the stressor. You can only get rid of withdrawal symptoms by taking more drugs, but the body CAN rid itself of the stress caused by pregnancy, so that is why so many women miscarry when they go through withdrawal.



Watching an infant withdraw from methadone is heartbreaking. My advice, don't get pregnant while on drugs.

My sister has just found out last week that she is 21 weeks pregnant, she did not know she was pregnant because she never had regular periods due to her drug abuse over the years. She is on 80mg of methadone and takes other meds for her mental health issues. I have 2 children myself and think that ppl with drug issues should not be allowed to bring innocent babies who will suffer with the withdrawels into this world. Since last week when my family found out we are all at our wits end worrying about this situation. I have read some of these comments and it worries me even more nw seeing how bad the withdrawel symptoms are for these poor babies. :-(

My sister-in-law just had a baby today. She is on methadone. They say he is fine. I would like to know if the grandmother found out more about her grandson and his withdrawals. Only because her mother will be the one who takes care of this new baby boy, as well as the older two children she has. On some points i am with the people that cant see how these women do this. I also know that it can termenate the baby if the woman stops. What I dont see is why you would ever let yourself get pregnant in the first place. I was on meth for a long time. I know i would NEVER want a chid to go through what I had to go through to get off of it. Stop telling yourself you need the drug. Its not worth it. I can come up with fifty reasons why you dont.

Thank you Savannahan !! It is very ridiculous for people to judge others and make the comments they have when obviously they actually have no idea what they are talking about and also have no right to judge any other person if they have not walked a mile in the other's shoes. I already had my first child 5 years ago and I was on Methadone, and it was strongly recommended that I stay on the medication throughout my pregnancy because the benefits far outweigh the risks. I actually ended up getting toxemia about 5 weeks before my due date so they had to induce and deliver suddenly and over a month early so yes she did have to go to the NICU due to the combination of problems. She had pretty severe jaundice and issues with keeping the formula they were giving her to start out with, down. Then also she did have the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome so after getting the other unrelated health issues under control they did use morphine to wean her from the methadone. Of course it is heart breaking to see your child have to go through any pain or have any issues at all, but once we made it through those 3 weeks she was in the hospital and went home she did not have any lasting effects, physical, mental, or emotional. As a matter of fact she was and still is one of the most content, happy, and smart children I have ever seen in my life. I know of course every mom thinks that their child is wonderful and great, but I am honestly not saying those things because she is my child, it is the honest truth. I can't even count the amount of people that she has come in contact with or just been around that are just blown away at how amazing she is. I am also pregnant again currently with a little boy. I have been on methadone throughout my pregnancy under the doctor's full order and will be giving birth in about 3 to 4 weeks and according to all tests,ultrasounds, and the doctor's opinion (plus God willing) my little boy is going to be very healthy. Now of course he still may have to be weaned off of the methadone and therefore stay in the hospital longer than most babies do, but they do have techniques and methods now to accomplish this while causing your baby to have to experience a very minimal amount of discomfort if any at all. Of course it is always best to be on no medication at all during pregnancy, but sometimes there are situations where that is just basically impossible so a mother and a physician have to make the very best decision possible based on the circumstances. I can assure you that most any mother I have known or just spoken with struggles with a great deal of guilt and stress as it is and would do anything to ensure that their baby does not have to suffer as a result of their actions. o.O ? :-D

people should NOT take any drugs at all while pregnant its just sick u dont deserve kids and she not be aload 2 keep them

Just cuz your doctor may be one one the best doesn't mean sh*t. How about you try growing up with the problems that your kids could have or what I had cuz my mom was too selfish to stop drugs. I'm now 30 and I still have problems

Well i have a methodome baby in my house now. My girlfriends auntie died of drug overdose, and let me tell you having experience with a 4 year old methodome baby and i used to work with a 20 year old methodome baby. These kids grow up slow and stupid as the years go on. And get so bad at older ages they need treatments because they are "chemically in-balanced". This guy was mental, brain dead and thought he could beat the c**p outa even me, and he was only about 55kg...This kid that is with me for the time being, its like A.D.D,. When you try to explain,yell when he is in trouble or just talk to him he is just staying right threw you, and you can see this happening, just saying "yeah" and not listening at all. His speech development is really taking a turn for the worse with constant stuff ups and stutters. We have another four year old with us and his speech is just fine for a four yo. We had got Xbox Kinnect for the kids and and here is a good example of how he is incapable of listening, it was 2 player with both the lil kids and all he did was stand there moving his head, the other ofcourse is jumping around having fun poppin bubbles. Trying to explain what he has to do (move his arms around move back and forward etc) to get the bubbles, he stares threw me once again and repeatedly says "yeah" and then has another round and does the same thing.
I'm not trying to at all be mean, but i live in the real world where methodome babies are worse then my autistic brother

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I wish you knew how stupid you sounded when you posted this quote on here. Until you have actually gone through an addiction and know what the f**k these people go through you have no right to say anything. No matter what people say addiction is not in your head and there are physical and mental consequences that you don't want to bring upon yourself, but as they say sh*t happens. So shut the Fu*k up and tend to your own life and by God's power I hope you never have to go through what these mothers and children go through. Every child is not born with constant seizures and yeah some may have problems learning as well as others, but that is not always the case.

I am almost 7 Months pregnant and on methodone This is my first child I never used anything while pregnant with the other three who are older this pregnancy was a mistake and i wish I could do it over again but i can't I have been reading all the post and think some people are really messed up on here. I have been trying to find anything I can so I can know what to except because like i said i have never used any type of drugs during any of my other pregnancies and I am scared to death that she is not going to be healthy. I can't believe how ignorant some of these post are the one that the person kept calling the child she is caring for stupid really made me sick even if that is the case that is a hell of a way to talk about a child. now one thing i do agree with is that it is really messed up to make the same mistake more then once to know that your child is going to suffer at all and allow it to happen again and again is just horrible. I would do anything in the world to be able to change or take back what i did but know i'm just trying to deal with it the best i can. And to the mom's who it was a mistake know that they are living with so much guilt I know i am and I don't think it will ever go away even if everything does turn out well and i think i deserve it but one thing some of these misinformed people don't understand is that most of us once we have already found out we were pregnant had no choice but to stay on the methodone or our babies would be dead, I will admit i even thought about abortion which i am really against but I was so scared to let this baby have to suffer at all but in the end there was no way i could go through with it I love this baby so much already. I just think people need to know that everyone's situation is different some of us would have never chosen to do this to our child I had switched birth controls and it happened. If anyone has any HELPFUL info that would be great thank u.

lISTEN EVERY BABY GOES THRO WITHDRAWS I DONT CARE HOW MUCH METHADONE YOUR ON. THE BEST THING TO DO FOR HIM IS TALK TO YOUR DOC AND MAKE SURE HE PUTS HIM IN BACK IN THE HOSP!!!! ASAP........................... IM ON METHADONE ALSO I JUST HAD MY SON HE WAS OKAY FOR 3 DAYS THEN BAM THE WITHDRAWS CAME ON... NO ITS NOT COOL AND FOR EVERYONE THAT HAS SOMETHING BAD TO SAY ABOUT IT... LOOK IT UP BEFORE ITS A TREATMENT PROGRAM IF YOU WORK IT.. AND I DO. ITS ALOT BETTER THAN DOING STREET DRUGS AND GETTTING YOUR CHILD TOOK AWAY FROM YOU. JUST KEEP LOOKING UP THAT BABY IS IN GODS HANDS ALWAYS WILL BE JUST MAKE SURE YOUR DOC GETS HIM BACK IN THE HOSP CAUSE THERE CAN BE WORSE THINGS THAT CAN HAPPEN...

THANK YOU!!!! AT LEAST SOMEONE KNOWS WHAT THERE TALKING ABOUT......

None of these women are selfish, are you kidding?
A lot of people on Methadone are using it because they're staying AWAY from severely toxic drugs like heroin or cocaine.
You are pathetic and inconsiderate if you think these people are selfish.
My sister is on methadone and her baby is due in May. So far so good, her and her son-to-be are both very healthy.
Yeah, withdrawals are bad. They take time.
But would you rather have a baby born addicted to crack, or addicted to methadone?
Before you start harassing women who are asking for advice on how to be HEALTHY and HELPFUL, think before you say anything.