Treatment For Babies Born Addicted To Drugs

Drug use during pregnancy may also lead to miscarriage or pre term labor.

Treatment for babies born addicted to drugs.

Most cocaine exposed infants do not need any medication but if the infant is excessively irritable she may benefit from a short course of phenobarbital. The number of babies treated at florida hospitals for drug withdrawal syndrome continued to skyrocket last year further evidence of the far reaching impact of the state s prescription drug epidemic. In most cases this medication is only needed for a few days. Babies who are born addicted to drugs can be treated either with or without medication and if medical interventions are necessary physicians typically use morphine.

Sometimes methadone and other medications are used but doctors try to use as little meds as possible. Prenatal drug exposure may impact the child s behavior language cognition and achievement long term. According to the aap doctors have treated drug withdrawal symptoms in newborns with a variety of drug preparations including opioids tincture of opium neonatal morphine solution methadone and paregoric barbiturates phenobarbital benzodiazepines diazepam lorazepam clonidine and phenothiazines chlorpromazine. In 2010 1 374 babies were born addicted to drugs because their mothers were users a 42 percent increase from the year prior 1.

Florida is reporting the highest numbers of addicted babies. Babies exposed to drugs in utero may experience developmental consequences including impaired growth birth defects and altered brain development. 102 103 recent evidence however suggests that buprenorphine may be an even better treatment option. A baby born addicted to drugs may experience delays in learning from rolling over to crawling to walking and later on in school.

When the infant feels better the medication can be stopped without tapering. Babies addicted to drugs by the numbers. However 55 to 94 of babies prenatally exposed to opioids that includes the maintenance drugs methadone and buprenorphine will experience at least some withdrawal symptoms after birth. One of the most common treatments that is still provided to help babies born in this condition is the administration of morphine which is slowly decreased as the baby weans off of the opioids he or she is addicted to.

The rates are especially high in heavily troubled states such as tennessee and florida where the opiate epidemic is seeing some of the worst numbers.