Psychotropic Prescription Drugs

Identifying

The effects of prenatal exposure by this group of drugs are hard to detect at birth. For the first week of life, the baby may initially appear and behave normally, mostly sleeping and eating as you would expect. After this period, however, the changes accelerate rapidly. They will start having difficulty feeding and become significantly sensitive to stimuli. Even the stimulus of a nipple being placed their mouth can cause a struggle with screaming and movements aimed at pushing it out of the mouth.  Light and sounds can also trigger frantic movements. Because of this reaction, the greatest danger with these little ones is their failure to gain weight. 

Support

The caregiver must make sure to give an adequate amount of formula to the baby. He is at an increased risk to not gain the needed and required weight due to his behaviors during his feeds.  A subtle swaying may assist the baby to calm and become agreeable to the bottle. The caregiver needs to concentrate on the positive responses from the baby to ensure the continued success in feeding him. Therapeutic handling will be needed to help reduce his hypersensitivity to stimuli by reducing things such as lights, sounds and avoiding sudden movements. However, it is important to start to re-introduce stimuli in small increments, as the baby is ready, to build up his tolerance.

Risk Factors

• -Not identified by the medical community

• -Malnourishment

• -Dehydration

• -Abuse