![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/The-Conversation.jpg?resize=135%2C14&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Addicted-mothers.jpg?resize=640%2C307&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
The number of babies born to opioid-addicted mothers in the US more than quadrupled during 1999-2014, according to a recent\u00a0report\u00a0from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The health impact on these children is huge and lifelong.<\/span><\/p>\n The US is in the midst of an opioid epidemic with the country accounting for\u00a080% of the world\u2019s opioid use\u00a0even though it accounts for just 5% of the world\u2019s population. The epidemic is being fuelled by a rise in opioid prescribing, for painkillers, such as oxycodone, as well as a rise in the sale of illegal opioids, such as heroin and\u00a0fentanyl.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2016,\u00a011.5m\u00a0people misused prescription opioids and each day, 116 people died from opioid-related drug overdoses. But it\u2019s not just the US, there were also\u00a0record numbers\u00a0of drug deaths in parts of the UK, including\u00a0Swansea and Blackpool.<\/span><\/p>\n Opioid addiction has a devastating impact on the user, but when the user is a pregnant woman, the impact is compounded as the child is affected by the drug, too. Opioids are passed to the baby via the placenta.<\/span><\/p>\n Withdrawal<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The first and most obvious impact of being born to an opioid-addicted mother is withdrawal. This is known as\u00a0neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)\u00a0and it includes excessive tremors, sweating, fever, vomiting and insomnia. The most harrowing symptoms are seizures and an inconsolable, high-pitched cry.<\/span><\/p>\n The severity of withdrawal may depend on the nature, extent and complications of maternal drug use, such as whether any other drugs are being used alongside the opioids, which may mask or worsen symptoms.\u00a0Withdrawal symptoms\u00a0from prescribed opioids can be just as severe as withdrawal from illicit opioids.<\/span><\/p>\n NAS symptoms\u00a0usually occur in the first two or three days following birth, but they can start up to four weeks later. The symptoms usually last a few weeks but have been known to still be present when the baby is several months old.<\/span><\/p>\n In some cases, opioids are given to the baby to reduce the symptoms of NAS and the babies are then weaned off these. But many babies go \u201ccold turkey\u201d and suffer severe withdrawal symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\n Treatment to reduce the severity of withdrawal in affected babies traditionally involved swaddling and minimal interaction, including from the mother. But recently\u00a0breastfeeding\u00a0alongside\u00a0touch and comfort from mothers\u00a0(or other caregivers) has been shown to be effective, reducing the use of medication and reducing hospital stays.<\/span><\/p>\n Lifelong problems<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n There are other complications at birth, including low birth weight,\u00a0preterm delivery\u00a0and\u00a0stillbirth. What is not clear is whether these effects are due to drug exposure in pregnancy or living in poverty and other stresses after birth that often accompany parental drug use. Opioid use during pregnancy has also been associated with\u00a0development delays\u00a0and\u00a0intellectual impairment. But most studies were conducted before the use of synthetic opioids and scientists don\u2019t yet know the long-term implications of these substances on babies.<\/span><\/p>\n While some opioid users \u2013 particularly those addicted to prescribed medications \u2013 live relatively stable lifestyles, others have a chaotic lifestyle involving\u00a0risk-taking, crime, poor self-care or social isolation. Children raised in this\u00a0environment\u00a0are at\u00a0risk of harm, including both physical and emotional neglect, and are often placed into\u00a0foster care.<\/span><\/p>\n These children are also likely to face\u00a0broader health and social inequalities\u00a0associated with this lifestyle, such as lower life expectancy, more health problems, and poorer education and employment prospects. Children may also be\u00a0accidentally exposed\u00a0to the opioids themselves, which can lead to their own addictions and potential overdose.<\/span><\/p>\n Support for mothers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Thankfully, there is evidence to suggest that with appropriate, timely support for mothers, the\u00a0outcomes for children\u00a0can be\u00a0improved, including children being more likely to be reunited with parents after foster care.<\/span><\/p>\n Getting addicted mothers to engage with support services is also key for both mother and child in the long run. Mothers who engage can access drug treatment programmes and take\u00a0substitute medications, such as methadone or buprenorphine, with the aim of becoming drug free.<\/span><\/p>\n This can be difficult with many addicted mothers feeling guilty and ashamed about the harm they are doing to their baby, together with the\u00a0public scrutiny\u00a0and\u00a0stigmatisation\u00a0they face from healthcare professionals. But pregnancy can also be a significant motivator for change in addicted mothers, making investment in support services worthwhile.<\/span><\/p>\n However, like any drug abuse, maternal opioid use is a complex problem with no simple solution. Given the negative impact on affected children, though, we must at least try to provide a better support system for both the mothers and children.<\/span><\/p>\n Claire Hooks<\/span><\/strong> * Published in print edition on 24 August 2018<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The opioid crisis in the US has quadrupled the number of babies born addicted to drugs The number of babies born to opioid-addicted mothers in the US more than quadrupled during 1999-2014, according to a recent\u00a0report\u00a0from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The health impact on these children is huge and lifelong. The US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8348],"tags":[13213,1337,13211,13214,8971,13212,13210],"class_list":["post-16008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-conversation","tag-babies","tag-drugs","tag-motherhood","tag-opioid-addiction","tag-opioid-epidemic","tag-opioids","tag-pregnancy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Addicted-mothers.jpg?fit=1200%2C575&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-4ac","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Baby.jpg?resize=640%2C427&ssl=1\")
<\/span><\/p>\n
\nSenior Lecturer of Midwifery, <\/span>
\nAnglia Ruskin University<\/span><\/p>\n
\n