Babies Born Addicted to Rx Drugs

It was bound to happen. For decades we have read stories about heroin babies and cocaine babies and crack babies. Now and then one reads of a volunteer who does nothing but go and hold them and sing to them. There aren’t many sights more horrible to see than a baby born addicted to drugs. And now it’s happening with prescription drugs.

The baby gets nourishment in the womb from the mother, and the baby gets some of whatever the mother takes. So, when the mother is addicted to Oxycontin or other prescription drugs, the babies are quite used to having it in their system. A few days after a baby is born, he will experience withdrawal from the drugs. He will scream and scream, and twitch and vomit. He will find it difficult to breath and to eat. He will rub his little nose with his tiny fist frantically trying to make the pain stop, causing his skin to bleed.

It’s very similar to an adult going off drugs “cold turkey” (quickly) except that of course the little one has no knowledge of what is happening or why.

Here in Florida there is a growing epidemic of prescription drug-addicted bablies being born, with an increase each year. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reported that there were 354 cases in 2006, and 1,374 in 2010. Similar increases have been noted in other states as well.

But wait – before you do as I did and start thinking this is only about drug addicts, watch the video. One of the mothers was prescribed percocet and other medications by her obstetrician while she was pregnant. Now who’s to blame? Another got pregnant while she was already taking painkillers. Do these folks not know that a tiny baby cannot handle such drugs? Another mother was taking Tylenol-3 that her obstetrician prescribed.

Doctors and nurses report the difficulties that this has presented to the neo-natal units at the hospital. Most were not trained to deal with withdrawal from drugs, and so it has been a challenge for them to know exactly what to do. Because of this, the American Academy of Pediatrics has convened a committee this year to revise its treatment guidelines for the babies, which will be published next year.

Generally, the doctors prescribe micrograms of morphine, methadone or phenobarbital so that the babies can be comfortable enough to eat and sleep. Gradually over several weeks they withdraw the medicines.

Mark Publicker from Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine describes it thus: "The experience of opiate withdrawal is the most painful and most difficult of any withdrawal syndrome. It's hell. It's physical, emotional and spiritual hell."

Time for people to pay closer attention to what they ingest and what they prescribe.