[d'smom]

we were presented with a situation and any words of wisdom and advice would be helpful.

baby girl born @35 weeks tespted pos. for meth and marijuana, she weighed 5 lbs 5 oz 18 in, APGARS was 8/9 she is having feeding issues but the drs say she is not acting like she is in withdrawl

Thanks

Tracey

[ubooashell]

meth and mj are common, the fact that she is not showing withdrawels at this time is very good. I would be more concerned if there were a history of severe alcohol abuse. babies do not get their suck reflex unitl 34 weeks, so even if every thing were perfect and she was born a little early she would still have some feeding issues. it is not easy to suck , swallow , and breath at the same time. what does your heart tell you?
I am a NICU RN we see meth and mj all the time. How much Meth did the mom use? Are they scoring the baby on a withdrawel scale, if not the dr is not worried.
signs of withdrawel in a baby
sneezing, uncontrollable crying, severe diaper rash from diarrhea, not sleeping, fever.
hope this helps
Michelle

[d'smom]

thanks, the baby is only 3 days old, so is it too early to see all this yet? The social worker said she held her yesterday and tried to feed her. She said she smoke marijuana weekly and meth 3 times a month, Social worker says she did mostly weekends? The baby has not tested pos. for anything else.

Thanks
Tracey

[ess922]

What exactly are the feeding issues?

Both of our kids were exposed to substances. Our older to meth our younger tested positive to coccaine at birth and was also exposed to marijuana and opiates.

Younger had eating issues (formula sensitivities) and difficulty swallowing at first. Older had reflux. Doc said these may or may not have had to do with the drug use.

Both are doing very well so far. Younger one is just an infant but hitting all milestones well and did not go through withdrawal. Older one is high-strung/active, but/and he is a delight! Also, hit milestones on-time, is an extremely verbal toddler and is learning very well so far.

Go with your gut instincts and try to talk with the pediatrician to get as much info as you can. Hopefully, the baby should be just fine!

Good luck.

[Bug-n-Bears-Mommy]

I had waited SO long for our placement that I didn't even ask ALL those questions until after I had Bug. He too was early, tested pos for MJ, and had been exposed to both meth and alcohol regularly during the pregnancy. He weighed only 5lbs, 13oz. The only issue we really had was that he did not hear or respond to noise very well for about the first 6 weeks. He slept ALL the time. I always thought he was just a quiet baby until I was around my sister's baby recently. Looking back now, I know that he was probably...ever so slightly...delayed. We has his hearing tested when he was 5 weeks old, and his brain was responding normally to sounds. He developed normally and 6 months later we took him in again for a re-check and he was doing great.

FWD 19 months later and he is a healthy, happy...VERY chatty little stinker. Let me reiterate the stinker part!! (It is the dreaded mother curse..."I hope you have one JUST like you!!") Thanks mom!!

If I were called again tomorrow with the same scinerio, I would jump on it again in a heartbeat!

[awaitingagirl]

Our baby went thru meth w/d and she didnt have any of those w/d symptoms listed below. She had a hard time sucking the first day/night so we had to tube feed, but then she got the hang of it, she just slept a lot however, for babies thats pretty normal. She had a hard time keeping her eyes open at times. All that subsided by day 2.
She never had any of these: sneezing, uncontrollable crying, severe diaper rash from diarrhea, not sleeping, fever
HTH