What effects does methadone have on a baby? Babies who are exposed to methadone during pregnancy could experience:
Respiratory symptoms such as stuffy nose, fast breathing and repeated sneezing and yawning
. Nervous system issues, including decreased sleep, being jittery and irritable, and becoming startled due to sound or touch.
Does methadone hurt a fetus?
Buprenorphine and methadone have both been shown to be safe and effective treatments for opioid use disorder during pregnancy
. While NAS may still occur in babies whose mothers received these medications, it is less severe than in the absence of treatment.
How long does a baby go through withdrawal?
You may hear newborn withdrawal referred to as neonatal abstinence syndrome or NAS. Symptoms usually appear 1 to 7 days after birth. Symptoms can be mild or severe, but they usually go away
by the time a baby is 6 months old
.
What happens when babies go through withdrawal?
After the baby is born, they are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, which is a group of problems a baby may experience when withdrawing from exposure to narcotics, such as opiates. The most common withdrawal symptoms a baby may experience include:
Tremors (trembling) Irritability (excessive crying)
What are symptoms of a baby born addicted to drugs?
Quick breathing. Stuffy nose, sneezing. Hyperactive reflexes, increased muscle tone. Trembling, seizures
.
Babies born to substance-using mothers may have short- or long-term effects.
Short-term withdrawal symptoms may consist only of mild fussiness. More severe symptoms may include irritable or jittery behavior, feeding problems, and diarrhea
. Symptoms vary depending on which substances were used.
For newborn outcomes, treatment with
buprenorphine as compared to methadone
resulted in significantly longer gestational age, reduced incidence of preterm birth (defined as gestational age less than 37 weeks), larger birth weight, and larger head circumference.
Summary of Use during Lactation
Most infants receive an estimated dose of methadone ranging from
1 to 3% of the mother’s weight-adjusted methadone dosage
with a few receiving 5 to 6%, which is less than the dosage used for treating neonatal abstinence.
Could taking methadone cause other pregnancy complications?
Some studies have found higher chances of low birth weight and preterm delivery (birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy) when methadone is used during pregnancy
.
Preterm birth was more common in methadone-exposed pregnancies (25% versus 14%)
. The incidence of NAS treatment was higher in methadone compared with buprenorphine-exposed infants (65% vs 49%), and term compared with preterm births (64% vs 36%).
Heroin and other opioids, including methadone
, can cause serious withdrawal in the baby. Some symptoms can last as long as 4 to 6 months. Seizures may also occur in babies born to opioid users. Amphetamines can lead to low birth weight and premature birth.
Neonatal exposure to some drugs during pregnancy
can have harmful effects on development and may lead to acute adverse events, including neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) and infant mortality
. Prenatal drug exposure may also contribute to long-term behavioral effects and developmental deficits.
Taking opioids during pregnancy can cause problems for you and your baby. The possible risks include: Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) – withdrawal symptoms (irritability, seizures, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and poor feeding) in newborns.
Neural tube defects – birth defects of the brain, spine, or spinal cord
.
Health Outcomes From Exposure During Pregnancy
For mothers, OUD has been linked to maternal death;
1 , 2
for babies, maternal OUD or long-term opioid use has been linked to
poor fetal growth, preterm birth, stillbirth, and specific birth defects, and can cause neonatal abstinence syndrome
(see below).
Currently,
there are no states that mandatorily drug test infants upon birth
. However, some states will drug test if certain red flags are present in the parents or if the newborn baby exhibits unexplainable signs of withdrawal or distress. Testing newborns for drugs at birth is very controversial.
Babies with NAS are sometimes born too early (premature) and often are smaller than other babies. They usually start to show signs of withdrawal a few days after birth. They may be fussy, irritable, or cry a lot, usually with a high-pitched cry.
Many babies have trouble sleeping
, eating, and gaining weight.
The individual NAS symptoms are weighted (numerically scoring 1–5) depending on the symptom, and the severity of the symptom expressed. Infants scoring an
8 or greater
are recommended to receive pharmacologic therapy. The most comprehensive of scales, it is found to be too complex by many nurseries for routine use
18
.
Shuddering attacks are recognized as
an uncommon benign disorder occurring during infancy or early childhood
. It is necessary to distinguish these episodes from epileptic seizures. The attacks seem to involve shivering movements occurring daily for several seconds without impairment of consciousness.
