Do Crack Babies Go Through Withdrawal

Apr 30, 2012  The infant is going through drug withdrawal and typical signs of withdrawal. Some affected babies also have I m not going to go back to.

Pregnant and nursing mothers who alcohol and drugs produce adverse effects on babies. Alcohol and drugs can pass through the placenta and into the unborn baby s bloodstream. Also, use of alcohol or drugs while pregnant can sometimes result in miscarriage of the baby, and in rare cases, death of the mother. Alcohol and drugs may also be transmitted to the baby through nursing mothers milk.

The Effects of Alcohol on Babies

The effects of alcohol on babies are well-known and well-documented. Different studies on the effects of alcohol intake on babies have different results. Some studies about the effects of alcohol on babies are controversial. These suggest that a small amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy. Other studies state that no amount of alcohol is safe. It has been proven that even a small amount of alcohol crosses through the placenta and into the baby.

The most infamous effect of alcohol abuse on babies is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or FAS, results when a woman drinks too much alcohol while she is pregnant. Studies vary widely on the how much alcohol is too much. Effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can include low birth weight, mild to severe brain damage, and even changes in facial structure. Long-term effects of FAS include behavior and personality problems that result from brain damage in the uterus. Babies with FAS can suffer from long-term learning disabilities, communication difficulties, and more as they grow older. FAS is a permanent disability for babies who are born to alcoholic mothers.

The Effects of Cocaine Crack on Babies

Cocaine and crack cocaine cross through the placenta and into the unborn baby. Effects of cocaine and crack on babies can include miscarriage, early labor and birth, and smaller body size of the baby. Babies who are born to mothers who use cocaine or crack can be born already addicted. If this happens, the baby must go through withdrawal from cocaine or crack after it is born. If a woman uses cocaine or crack while breastfeeding, the drug will enter her breast milk and be ingested by her baby. Long term effects of cocaine and crack on babies can include behavioral problems as they grow older.

The Effects of Methamphetamine on Babies

It has been proven that methamphetamine, or meth, passes through the placenta into the unborn baby. It is also absorbed into the mother s breast milk, and potentially passed to her baby. The effects of meth on babies born to meth-addicted mothers can include small body size, birth defects, and increased heart rate. Meth use while pregnant can affect the baby s internal organ development. Babies can be born already addicted to meth and must go through withdrawal after they are born. Long-term effects of meth on babies usually are behavior-related. Examples include hyperactivity, difficulty concentrating, learning disabilities, and aggression.

The Effects of Prescription Drugs on Babies

It is not only alcohol and illegal drugs that can harm babies in the womb and long-term. Prescription drugs can cause dangerous effects in babies as well. Some commonly-abused prescription drugs are opiate-based painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs, sleep aids, and stimulants. The effects of prescription drugs on babies while in the womb can include miscarriage, seizures, and preterm labor or birth. Babies can be born addicted to prescription drugs. They can also be born addicted to the drugs used to treat the mother s addiction. They must go through withdrawal as soon as they are born. A few studies show long-term effects of prescription drugs on babies such as birth defects, spina bifida, and glaucoma.

Real Crack Babies. October 25, 2010 Public view at the time was that these babies were born addicted, had to go through withdrawal symptoms.

View full sizeAndrea Levy, The Plain Dealer

More than 23 million Americans need alcohol or drug treatment. Another 23 million adults 10 percent of the population are in recovery. That s according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

William Denihan, CEO of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County, says it more directly yet: If you look at the face of addiction -- you re really looking at the face of America.

Throughout September, Ideastream, in collaboration with The Plain Dealer and NetWellness, is focusing multiple-media coverage on the mysterious and often misunderstood world of addiction, on WCPN FM/90.3 and WVIZ Channel 25 and at health.ideastream.org.

Today s stories

CLEVELAND, Ohio --

They are the tiniest addicts.

Babies whose mothers are hooked on opioids such as heroin, prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, or who are in a registered methadone treatment program.

These are babies who have a harder time out of the gate. As many as 80 percent are born addicts.

They are not the crack babies who first emerged in the late 1980s, the babies who people largely expected -- wrongly, it turns out -- would end up with brain damage.

If the mother of an opioid-addicted newborn had a balanced diet and otherwise good prenatal care, these babies have normal weights. But they do have difficulty feeding or nursing, so keeping them at healthy weights can be a huge challenge.

That s only part of the problem.

Like the babies born to cocaine addicts a generation ago, these newborns are hard to console. They have excessive diarrhea. They re jittery and irritable. They don t sleep well. They have a distinct cry. They need dark, quiet and calm environments, and need to be held a lot.

Explosive increase surprises experts

In the past decade, the number of babies born addicted to opioids in the United States has exploded. The number of Ohio women identified as being opiate addicted while pregnant or parenting has grown nearly 200 percent in the past seven years, said Orman Hall, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.

Dr. Stephen Patrick, a fellow in neonatal and perinatal medicine at the University of Michigan Health System, led a team of researchers seeking to determine the number of opiate-addicted babies born in the United States between 2000 and 2009, and to figure out how much that amounted to in health care costs.

We anecdotally thought that we were seeing an increase, Patrick said. There had been previous studies in Florida and Australia, but no one had done it nationally.

The researchers analyzed two national databases to identify such newborns and women who were using opiates at the time of delivery.

What they found was that the number of addicted newborns had tripled over the span of a decade. The number of mothers using opiates at the time of delivery had grown to five times as much; the study, however, did not specify the percentage of those mothers classified as addicts.

We were surprised by the magnitude of the increase, the sheer number of newborns and the rate, Patrick said. Those numbers were borne out by even more findings, such as hospital stays for addicted newborns and correlating medical bills, both five times more than the typical stay.

On any given day at the Cleveland Clinic, two or three babies -- about 3 percent of babies in the Clinic s neonatal intensive care units systemwide at any given time -- are being treated for opiate withdrawal.

The NICU at MetroHealth Medical Center treated around 70 opiate-addicted newborns in 2011. Officials expect to treat more than 100 this year, said Dr. Jennifer Bailit, an OB-GYN who works with addicted pregnant women. That s in stark contrast to the handful of babies treated in 2001, she said.

What I m seeing are young women who get hooked on pills in high school after a medical incident, Bailit said. When their prescription runs out, she said, they get pills on the street. Some eventually graduate to heroin.

Women in their late teens and early 20s aren t the only ones who become addicted; middle-aged, affluent women are affected as well.

Where to get help

Methadone treatment centers

Cleveland Treatment Center Inc.: 1127 Carnegie Ave., Cleveland, 216-861-4246 ext. 240; clevelandtreatmentcenter.org

Community Action Against Addiction: 5209 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, 216-881-0765; ohiotreatmentcenters.org

Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, Veterans Addiction Recover Center: 10701 East Blvd., Cleveland, 216-791-3800, ext. 4725 or ext. 3034;

Support services

Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services: Treatment and referral hot line, 1-800-788-7254, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Ask for information on methadone treatment clinics.

Withdrawal in newborns difficult to treat

An article published earlier this year in the journal Pediatrics said that signs of withdrawal in newborns can be present within the first 24 hours of life or take as long as a week to become evident. Variations depend in large part on the type of drug the mother was taking while pregnant; whether she also was addicted to alcohol, smoking or other medication; and whether she was in treatment at the time of the baby s birth.

Heroin s effect shows up the earliest in newborns. Methadone may take up to 72 hours.

Opiate withdrawal is a different and more difficult type of withdrawal to treat than crack addiction, said Dr. Jonathan Fanaroff, co-director of the NICU at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies Children s Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. They don t die, but probably the most danger of babies untreated addiction is seizures.

While there is no consensus on the best protocol to treat babies, the standard at most hospitals is to start with morphine or methadone and add drugs such as clonidine and phenobarbital, an anti-seizure medication, as needed.

Treatment can last for as little as a week or stretch into months.

Most of the time we pass them on to our pediatrician colleagues for follow-up, Fanaroff said. Generally, when they go home, they re off medical therapy.

But the mother might still be in treatment, which can stretch well beyond one year in some cases.

A pregnant woman jumps ahead of everyone else when it comes to placement in a methadone treatment program. The worst thing that can happen for an unborn baby is for the mother to quit taking drugs without medical supervision. Not only is there greater risk of early labor or even loss of the baby, but a woman is more likely to relapse.

We do have a preference for women who are pregnant and parenting, said Hall of Ohio s addiction services department. That s a mandate, and residential programs have done a pretty reasonable job of upholding that.

Hitchcock Center for Women Inc. in Cleveland, is the only women s residential treatment program for other addictions that accepts clients who are in methadone maintenance programs. At any given time, Hitchcock, which has a 35-bed capacity, may include one or two pregnant women. Some women find Hitchcock on their own; some are referred by Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services.

There s a lot of shame and guilt, said Cindy Chaytor, clinical director at Hitchcock. The fear of being reported to children s services keeps many women from seeking prenatal care. Some have been using since their first trimester.

Once considered controversial, methadone, a synthetic opioid, has been the standard treatment for opioid addictions since 1972, when the Food and Drug Administration approved its use. Another synthetic opioid, Subutex the active ingredient is the pain reliever buprenorphine has emerged as an alternative in the past decade.

In contrast to methadone, Subutex is taken only once a month, eliminating the need to go to a treatment program every day. It also has a lower risk of overdose and has shown in studies that newborns of women who took Subutex during pregnancy have less-severe withdrawal symptoms.

But there are drawbacks. The cost is several times more expensive than methadone, making it harder to find prescribers and treatment centers that offer it. And because it s not taken as often, regulation is more difficult.

There is some evidence that Subutex has less severe newborn dependence, but more moms drop out of treatment programs and it s harder for them to stay clean, said Bailit of MetroHealth.

Regardless of the severity of dependence, the majority of addicted babies will still suffer from withdrawal, said Dr. Terry Baird, a neonatologist at the Cleveland Clinic Children s Hospital.

If the mom is being treated or still using drugs, no matter what you do during pregnancy, there are going to be some consequences for the baby, he said.

MetroHealth is working to figure out how to best coordinate with programs in the community to help mothers and their babies receive care, Bailit said.

Part of that effort, she said, is meeting with agencies in the community to educate them about the dangers of a pregnant women going cold turkey to battle her addiction, and the challenge of keeping her healthy through subsequent pregnancies.

Effects of Drugs & Alcohol on Babies

Babies born to opiate-addicted moms go They are not the crack babies who first the majority of addicted babies will still suffer from withdrawal.

Встроенное видео  The increasing numbers of women who abuse prescription painkillers while pregnant are delivering the crack babies of the 21st century.

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