Body Myths

Has anyone breastfed while on suboxone, with a preemie and had problems with the baby withdrawling? I was around 20 weeks pregnant when I started suboxone maintenance to help with my addiction to oxycontin. I had no issues during pregnancy, my baby was perfectly healthy. However, I delivered a preterm baby girl at 35 weeks and 3 days. I'm not sure if the suboxone had anything to do with the preterm labor. Around 2 days after my 4 lb 12 oz daughter's birth, she started to have withdrawal symptoms. The physicians caring for her refer to it as NAS, or Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. There is a scoring sheet for her symptoms, and depending on her scores, (the lower the better, like golf) they will treat her with methadone. Because her scores were so high, they began treatment on methadone. Her heart rate dropped severely, so they stopped the methadone, and started her on phenobarbital, which is an anti-seizure medicine, to help with her symptoms. For around 5-6 days, the phenobarbital was working splendidly, and we were told our daughter would finally be coming home from the NICU in 2 or 3 days. I wanted to breast feed, so after asking several physicians and pharmacists, I attempted to do so. Around a half an hour after my breast milk was introduced, her NAS scores spiked and they put her back on methadone. In fact, an even higher dose than before. I was wondering if anyone else has had similar experience? Also, I am open for questions if you may be in this situation, or one like it. Any information will help. Thank you...

My mother was a drug addict and alcohol, Will i be the same? My mother was a drug addict and an alcoholic when she was pregnant with me.She was high on heroine and very drunk when she gave birth to me. I was diagnosed wit Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Which means i had to be weened off drugs and alcohol when i was born. I was wondering if i have a greater chance of becoming addicted to either, As i am 18 and have started drinking and i am really worried because every time i drink now, even three drinks of vodka, i am literally on the floor and cannot move. This is really scary. I don't and never will take drugs, but i do smoke?. Will i be able 2 become addicted to stuff more than someone who didnt have NAS? please help me....

Do you believe that it is better for a newborn to be with his drug addicted mother because, because she? gave birth to him? Surely, just the threat of having their newborns taken from them if they continue doing drugs will get them into rehab & recovery? And surely every expectant Mum goes for monthly check-ups...how isn't the problem sorted out then & there? Why can't they just be put into a detox program to save their babies? This is so terribly sad & wrong...babies entering the world addicted...thru' no fault of theirs... London, Aug 17 (ANI): There has been a drastic increase in the number of babies born with drug and alcohol addiction problems in Scotland.According to the Scottish Sun, one in every 264 newborns in Scotland now suffer withdrawal symptoms as a result of junkie mums abusing deadly substances from heroin to cannabis.One in every 98 pregnant mums have admitted that they put their unborn child's life at risk by taking drugs during pregnancy, new figures unearthed by us show. Scots Labour leader Iain Gray called for junkies who shoot up in front of their kids to have their children taken off them."If a child is fending for themselves to survive, and people around them are having sex and taking drugs in front of them, I think that is not an acceptable way for the child to be living," the Sun quoted Gray as saying. "At the heart of the existing system is a presumption that it is better for the children to be with their mother and their birth family. That is wrong," he added. There is 20 per cent risk of babies dying from Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).Although a majority recovered naturally without medication, others are forced to through a painful withdrawal that can last four months.A child suffering from NAS can experience tremors, high-pitched crying, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, sweating, seizures, delayed visual development and wobbly eyes. Nationally 65 per cent of drug-using mums-to-be are taking heroin and methadone, while 29 per cent use cannabis and 11 per cent knock back sedatives such as Diazepam and Temazepam. Most of the babies we treat have been exposed to heroin or methadone and need oral morphine to treat them," said Dr Helen Mactier, a consultant neonatologist who studied drug-dependent pregnant women at The Princess Royal Maternity in Glasgow. "It can take anything from 24 hours to a few days for a baby to detox from heroin and months for babies to detox from methadone," she added. Edit: Bear, then why did they get pregnant & choose to have the baby? They seem to be lost...no one will intentionally harm a life growing inside of you...which is part of you. They need help & if they don't take that help, their babies need the help...away from their helpless Mums. zzzzz

If the parents divorced and the father died in this situation, what would happen... ? I'm pretty sure this is the right place to ask this. This isn’t really happening; it’s just for a story. In the story, my main character’s mother abuses drugs and alcohol while pregnant with the MC. When she is born, the MC is diagnosed with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, and has to be weaned off drugs and alcohol. The mother and father divorce and the MC lives with her father, never seeing her mother. Then, when the MC is a teen, her father is shot and killed in a robbery. I don’t think he would have a will, saying what he would want to happen to the MC or his possessions if he died. The problem is, I want the MC to go live with her mother, but I don’t think the MC would want it if she had a choice. I wondered if she’d have to go live with her mother automatically after her father’s death. I know that probably means her mother would be her only living relative, which I’m fine with. But would her mother have to prove to anyone that she is capable of taking care of her daughter and is clean from drugs? Would a social worker need to be involved, or a lawyer? Would the MC’s old house be sold, and would the money be saved by someone, to go to the MC when she turned 18?