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Baby Sarah came into the world on a kitchen
floor and arrived in the emergency room 10 hours later, still
bleeding through an unclamped umbilical cord. Jittery, irritable,
and unable to eat, she was already showing the early signs of
withdrawal. A toxicology screen showed that Sarah had opiates and
methamphetamine in her system — drugs her addicted mother had taken
during pregnancy.
Sarah is one of more than 200,000 infants
born in the United States every year with prenatal exposures to
illicit drugs (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Without
intervention and expert care, babies like Sarah can suffer
life-threatening effects of withdrawal, failure to thrive, abuse,
and neglect. The first thing all of us can to do help these little
ones is to learn about prenatal drug exposure.
If you are a caregiver and
need immediate help, PICC is here to support you. Our
information
hotline
(253-852-5253) is available 24-hours a day.
PICC has produced a comprehensive
training
book and DVD, “Caring for Drug-Exposed Infants.”
Signs of Prenatal Drug Exposure
Opiates
(Heroin, Methadone, Opiod Pain Medications like OxyContin):
Symptoms of withdrawal appear soon after birth. These
include a high-pitched cry, frantic movements, tremors,
sweating, fast respirations and heart rate, inability to
sleep or suck, abdominal cramps, loose stools, bloody
diarrhea. These infants may require weaning doses of
neonatal morphine to safely ease them through withdrawal.
Stimulants
(Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Amphetamines):
These babies do
not
exhibit symptoms of withdrawal. Their identifying feature
is inability to eat. They don’t wake to feed; and when they
are fed, they take an ounce or two and stop. These infants
require nutritional support to avoid malnutrition,
dehydration, and failure to thrive. Other signs of
stimulant exposure may include low birth weight, prematurity
(cocaine), limp tone, lethargy, and excoriated buttocks
(meth).
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