[lmnop2]

We just received a newborn whose mom is addicted to cocaine. The current case plan is reunification.

When we took baby to dr for newborn check, dr informed us of all the possible "problems" the baby may face come school-age time.

Does anyone have school-age children whose biomoms were cocaine users? Any issues?

[Kat-L]

My ten year old was a crack baby. She was also premature. She was very sleepy & had some tremors for the first 3 months but caught up completely by 6 months. She has had no adverse affects and is an honor student.

My three year old was exposed to alcohol & cocaine. Again, she's absolutely delightful and has had no issues up to this point.

[Sooner]

Our soon to be adopted son may have been exposed during pregnancy. He isn't school age yet, just 2 1/2, but the Dr just told me about how it affects an infant. Can you share what the dr told you could happen at shoolage?

[irelady10]

Yes, could you relate what the doc told you about issues that kids may face come school-age?

My little man was drug and probably alcohol exposed...my pediatrician told me that drug exposure doesn't necessarily equal issues. Also, when I had him evaluated at 6 months the therapists told me that many pathways in the brain that may have been damaged by pre-natal exposures can find new connections, negating the damage, with positive, stimulating early environments!

BTW- my little man is a COMPLETE joy! Different people his daycare tells me everyday what a super, fun, adorable baby he is!! These are not idle comments- this is really a special baby (ok- I'm a bit biased- but he is pretty amazing!!).

[lmnop2]

The dr said that she had read studies about drug-exposed babies being "normal" when young. However, when getting to school, behavioral and learning problems can then surface. I didn't clarify if she herself had seen that or if she was just referring to what she had read.

Thanks Kat-L for the real-life positive account!

[athikers]

My son was born addicted and is not yet school age, but is very far from normal. He has other issues in addition to his pre-natal exposure, so we don't know what is causing his development delays but he is severely, globally delayed.

[chevyjewel]

The long term effects run the gamut.

On a side not I personally hate the terms "crack baby" or "cocaine baby"

They are babies coming from unfortunate circumstances and I think it's degrading to label them that way, especially because just the connotation itself can have an effect on them later on in life.

[shainamsu]

our research showed that the children would usually develop attention disorders. that's proven true in our case. we're not exactly sure what Rosebud was exposed to, but we know that there's a very high likelihood for both drugs and alcohol. academically, she's on track for starting kindergarten next year, but she has some serious attention problems.

i would say that those would be the biggest concerns. that and some developmental delays. you have to think, though, that the doctors are required to tell you of the risks so that you're aware and can take the appopriate measures to correct them if they arise. i would be mindful of those adverse affects and also what to expect from a non-drug-affected baby, but not to worry about it unless you think there's a problem.

[qs mom]

I belong to a support group for parents of children with a mental health dx. I've met a mom that has adpoted 3 children.

She told me her 'baby' (he's 7) was born addicted to cocaine. I was floored. He is smart, funny and just the sweetest little guy ever. He does well in school, is attached well. He is very, very tiny. Is this part of the cocaine addiction? Or genetics? I don't know.

[JessicaBaker]

Be wary of generalizations. Each child has his or her own set of factors: genetic, prenatal and environmental that play into how they do later in life.

Cocaine was one of the four drugs my daughter was exposed to prenatally. She is only in preschool (she's 3 1/2) but has a better vocabulary and more focus than most children her age. She knows all her letters, most of the sounds, counts past 20 and knows numbers up through 12, sits and attends for very long stories with few pictures, etc. I would be VERY surprised if learning issues surfaced later in life.

[Joy2566]

dd #1 was born heroin addicted, she had to go through withdrawals. She has some significant learning disabilities and has little cause and effect thinking. she is also not logical at all.

dd #2 was born in jail, so her birth mom was off the cocaine for a couple of months prior to her birth, but she was exposed to cocaine for the first part of the pregnancy. She has very little attention and is extremely active. She can talk very fast. She has struggled a bit in school, but I think it is more from the instabilty in her early life and her hearing impairment. She is very logical and can reason things out. She has improved a great deal in school over the last two years.

both of the girls have attachment disorder #1 is mild; #2 is moderate to severe. I think the attachment issues are related to the drug use of the mother, not necessarily their exposure. I will say that if I had to choose which drug my children were exposed to in utero, it would be cocaine. It seems to have less of an affect on the children, just my experience.

[Sooner]

Our dr said that because cocaine goes out of the system so fast it usually doesn't cause birth defects but does cause small birth weight & premies so they tend to suffer from the affects that premies suffer. I really don't know for sure that our little man was exposed, they messed up the labels on the infant blood test in the hospital.

[mamallama]

Our little one was born prenatally exposed to cocaine. She was born several weeks premature and has health problems. She has severe GERD and we think that she may also have cerebral palsy.

Some babies born exposed have no issues (we've had three foster babies w/o issues) and some do. It's hard to say what the future holds. All babies born exposed should be monitored for signs of developmental delays and, IMO, should be evaluated by ECI.

[shy_bear]

Our little guy was drug exposed, we know at delivery birthmom tested + to cocaine. He is developmentally behind by about 4 mths. He has SID and is 19mths old and does not talk at all. He had a brain MRI that showed a lack of mylenation (sp?) for his age. That could mean nothing or it could mean he will always be delayed. At first I was so upset by all the unknown with him...I worried about his future. Now I have come to feel it is what it is and we love him and will deal with whatever is to come! He is the sweetest most loving child and we are so happy that we are able to parent him!!

[Lamaena]

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge! Today I got my first placement since our former fd D was reunified with her biomom. This lil'princess was exposed to cocaine but seems to be doing fine; I was told she feeds well and she weight in at 7 pounds. We'll see what the future brings.