[spischer]

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Help - possible situation - need help

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We are being presented to a birthmother that had a baby a couple weeks ago. The baby tested positive for heroin and cocaine at birth. The mother has been in and out of jail while pregnant.....so they are thinking she did not do a lot of drugs.....not sure though. The baby is in a transitional home and is doing well. Was born at a little over 5pds and is now a little over 7pds. There was no withdrawal while in the hospital...perhaps a little more crying on the first day. I am wondering if anyone adopted a child like this? What research do you have? What questions should we be asking? What are possible problems years from now?

As you can tell we are trying to find out as much as we can....please help.

Thanks so much!
Sarah

[athikers]

On the special needs board there is a section on drug exposure, you may find some good answers there. Good luck.

[shy_bear]

I have a son adopted from fc who was exposed to cocaine, marijuana, and possibly alcohol. He DID NOT go thru any withdrawls after delivery. He has been with us since he was 24 hrs. old. He is the cutest most loving child! Has a temper on him, and he knows what he wants!!
He has been in PT since 4 mths old. He continues to go weekly. He has very tight muscles in his hips and heel cords which make his gait abnormal. Can he walk yes; will he ever be a professional athlete no. Everyone involved feels he will be able to run and play with all the other kids. He is going to be having serial casting done on his legs with possible Botox injections to help. He is speech delayed; he does not mimic at all and the only thing he says is DaDa. He JUST started babbling at 13mths. after he had tubes put in his ears. He is seen by OT. We have allergies which cause him to have pretty bad eczema; so he routinely sees an allegist. He sees a developmental ped. He sees a pulmonologist. Basically our son is a full time job. We have two other kids so I try to manage my time very wisely. We did not get an adoption subsidy for him just medicaid.
No two drug exposed kids will be the same. We always think things could have been much worse and we still really don't know what his future will hold. If you decide to take a drug exposed baby educate yourself and make sure you know what resources are available to you in your community.

[twinflana]

My son was cocaine addicted. His withdrawals were minor. We had to keep him tightly swaddled or he was not happy. He startles easily even still at 18 months but no big deal. He is being evaluated for speech delay but other than that he is pretty normal. He does have eczema also but only has had 3 or 4 ear infections and bronchitis once when other foster children came with it. He is normally a very healthy baby.

[shycar]

My ds is the only one not drug exposed in our home. My dd came at 2 days old. She was exposed to cocaine, meth, and marijuana. She had no withdrawls symptoms, but at 11 days old dr found a murmur. It turned out to be two large heart defects that are common with cocaine exposure. She had open heart surgery at 14 days old. She is now 2yr old and doing amazing.

My fd came to us at 8 months old. She was exposed to cocaine and alcohol. She still has tremor, but not as bad as the beggining. Like shybears little guy she also has hypotomic on her muscle (tight muscle tone). She has trouble bending her knees and at 14 months old still not walking. She also has trouble with self soothing, once she gets upset its very hard to calm her down. Her speech is amazing she is started saying words at 10 months old. She has some behavior issues due to alcohol.

My fs came to us at 4 months old. He was exposed to cocaine and alcohol. He was and still is very thin and very small. According to the other foster family, he had the many tremors and he still has them. He had swollowing problems, but I have not seen it. They also said he cried a lotand had trouble self soothing. He does not cry that much, but he does have trouble calming down. He also has the tight muscle. He also has a deep dimple in his lower back that could be sign of spinal cord defect and can cause many issues (this is common with alcohol exposure).

To be honest most cases are not this suvere. We are a theraputic home so we usually take the children that have many issues. Most time the babies have minor issues and do well.

[BethanyB]

My son was exposed to drugs and did not go through any withdrawls. He developed within normal ranges but was always the later end of the scale. He has some speech problems but we are working through them. He is totally healthy and he is just HUGE. Skinny but super tall. Boy was he a chubby healthy baby!

We don't know very much about my daughter who is my son's bio sister. We do know she did not test for any drugs when she was born. Now she has a LOT of energy and I am worried about ADHD.

I know of many people who have adopted children who were exposed to drugs and most say that they would do it again. I was open to drug exposure but not drug addicted. They tend to go through a bit more. Remember that any child can have speech delays, developmental delays, ADHD and so on. In fact many of my friends with bio kids are dealing with speech issues and ADHD.

I would say that if the child appears healthy and is not addicted, go for it. The thing that most people worry about now a days is alcohol use during pregnancy. Often that can have much worse effects.

[hermommy]

My fd was exposed to herion the first 4 months of pregnancy. Then birthmom was incarcerated and was on methodone. She was born small. The first couple months of life she was very figity, and kept losing weight. at about 2 months she started sleeping all night. She is now 18 months and no signs of anything. She has a very good vocabulary for her age, she started walking at 11 months, and she is very smart. she can count to 3 already lol. But I give God all the glory. We prayed so hard over her everynight and it made a great difference. I know that is why she is normal and a head on some things