Causes Of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

The use of heroin, cocaine, and other illicit drugs has become a public health concern especially during pregnancy. Maternal substance abuse has become an issue during the crack epidemic in the 1980’s; however, there is an alarm rate of infants born addicted to heroin. More than 3.7% women have indicated the uses some form of illicit drugs during their pregnancy, as well as 1.9 % reports binge drinking (Bhuvaneswar el at., 2008; Grant el at., 2009). With this in mind, more than 375,000 infants are born to maternal substance abusers each year costing over $100,000 in medical expenses covered by the state (Reitman, 2002).

When the info-graphics site Visually was hired to put together information related to drug abuse in the state, one could only imagine the startling information that was discovered. To begin with, drug is considered the #1 cause of accidental deaths with 11 people dying everyday from a drug overdose. Each year, an estimated 40,000 emergency room visits are drug related, and 3 of every 10 auto accident fatalities are as a result of drug use. Sadly, only 15% of the state's addicts are said to ever receive treatment. These numbers point out the need for educating residents about the availability of outpatient and inpatient addiction treatment services (drug and alcohol rehab) throughout the state and other parts of the country.

In the 80s Boston, as well as other cities, experienced a drug epidemic. The drug was called crack and it affect the city of Boston badly. A nurse named Fulani Haynes at Boston Medical Center was working during the crack epidemic. She explains how to care for babies who were born addicted to drugs that passed from a mother’s bloodstream through the placenta and into a tiny body. “The babies couldn’t tolerate being held or rocked, she recalled. They wailed at the sound of soft lullabies. Only complete darkness, silence, tight swaddling, and medication could soothe them.” This drug has nothing to do with heroin but it shows the people of Boston that if the heroin addiction continues to spread, more and more children will be born addicts and

In 2014, after seeing a significant increase in babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), Tennessee began criminally charging pregnant women who use drugs (Sakuma, 2014). Supporters of the new legislation refer to it as a “velvet hammer” used to convince the pregnant drug users into going into treatment, or doing jail time. However, critics are concerned that this legislation will be just another barrier for a group of women who are already at risk, (Sakuma, 2014).

Through the years, substance misuse in the United States has turned into an industrious issue influencing numerous people. In 2008, it was assessed that 17.8 million Americans beyond 18 years old where substance subordinate. Women who use medications during pregnancy can have an enduring impact on fetal. Medications can have an impact of maternal and child wellbeing, yet there are a lot of different variables, which influence it, poor social environment, nourishment, cleanliness, and sexual abuse. Regenerative interruption connected with heroin utilization has been shown in both and women and even low dosages of opiates can impede ordinary ovarian capacity and ovulation. The harm that goes hand in hand with substance utilization comes either straightforwardly from the impact of the medication itself or from issues identified with development and/or unexpected labor. The entanglements of jumbling components clamorous way of life, poor nourishment, liquor utilization and cigarette smoking influence the appraisal of the impacts of cocaine in pregnancy. In obstetric practice, 100% of pregnant women utilizing cocaine or heroin are cigarette smokers. Cigarette smoking is presumably the most well known manifestation of substance utilizes and is noteworthy corresponding considering ladies who use unlawful medications. Babies whose moms smoked in pregnancy have a tendency to have lower conception weights and diminished length, cranial and thoracic

The data showed that between 2009 and 2010, 16.2 percent of women between the ages of 15-17 years old, 7.4 percent of women between the ages of 18-25 years old, and 1.9 percent of women between the ages of 26-44 years old had used illicit drugs while pregnant. The data also showed substance abuse during pregnancy among different ethnic and racial groups. African Americans had the highest percentage in 2010 at 10.7 percent. The next highest was the White population at 9.1 percent. Hispanics or Latino’s percentage was 8.1 percent and the Asian population had the lowest percentage at 3.5 percent (“Results from”, 2011).

    The opioid and heroin addiction is affecting the upcoming generation drastically. There are babies being born with an addiction to alcohol, opiates, heroin, alcohol, or multiple different things. These drug addictions at a young age take a toll on the children 's bodies, they shake violently and cry uncontrollably. 1 in 10 children born in a hospital are addicted to one of the above mentioned drugs. The babies aren 't the only youth affected, there are also teens/young adults that who are addicted to these drugs. This

“Every 25 minutes, 1 baby is born suffering from opiate withdrawal. Newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) are more likely than other babies to also have low birth weight and respiratory complications” (Dramatic Increases in Maternal Opioid Use and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, 2015, Paragraph 2). To insure a better life for these babies, people are trying to create an Act called the Plan of Safe Care Improvement or otherwise known as the Infant Plan of Safe Care Improvement. This Act is meant to protect future babies from not only being born drug dependent because of their mothers, but also ensuring them a drug-free environment after birth. It will also “get help for the mothers and any other guardians involved in drug addiction”

Risk Factors: addiction in mother, no prenatal care, no support system for mother, high stress levels in mother

Social and familial effects. While NAS is a heartbreaking and disadvantageous outcome of maternal addiction, it is not the only outcome seen in children. Infants born to dependent mothers who evaded NAS are still at a higher risk of poorer childhood development and lifelong outcomes because of the unhealthy and damaging lifestyle of opioid addiction and familial stress. Through the use of psychiatric and family functioning evaluations, one study found children of opioid dependent mothers or parents showed a significantly higher rate of psychopathologies such as depression and anxiety as compared to those without familial substance abuse and children of alcoholics (Wilens et al., 2002). These children have a much more difficult time growing,

Tennessee passed a new law that any pregnant women who has been found using narcotics during pregnancy or if the baby is born being addicted to the drug will be arrested. Tennessee is the first state to allow this type of criminal law to go into place. Tennessee law allowed police to arrest women who used drugs when they were pregnant, but this approach never worked (Perez, 2014). Tennesee has a staggering infant mortality rate which ranks among 3rd in the nation (Sakuma, 2013). In 2013, Tennesee lawmakers actually sought to encourage mothers to get treatment under the Safe Harbor Act. The act let mothers get the help they need for the addiction, but they were promised they would not lose custody of their baby so long as they were seeking treatment (Sakuma, 2014). The new law permits moms to avoid prosecution if they can successfully complete their drug rehabilitation program (Sakuma,

In today’s society people are talking about babies being born to drugs, and how could a mother do that to their unborn child. Drug addiction is a very serious issue that needs more research. We are still learning the effects of substance abuse. One problem that needs to be looked at is are there enough Rehabilitation Centers, to help the women who are addicted to these different street drugs. Also doctor and nurses should not judge these women but instead give them the best prenatal care that can be provided. We need to see what harm and side affects it has on the mother and baby, so that we can be able to understand better how to treat these women and get them off drugs before they do harm their babies.

The American Medical Association and other leading medical groups have concluded that drugs and alcohol addictions are diseases that should be treated not punished. Federal and states experts have concluded that there is no evidence that the threat of jail succeeds in reducing drug use and improve birth outcomes. Instead, there is evidence that it frightens women away from prenatal care and drug treatment that can be helpful for these women and their future babies.

(n.d.) also conducted a study focused on infants that were exposed to buprenorphine or methadone while in utero. Unlike MacMullen et al. (2014) their focus was on predicting how the symptoms of NAS might manifest in the exposed newborns. Since the 1970s (MacMullen et al., 2014) methadone has been the treatment of choice for mothers with opioid dependence during pregnancy, the use of this drug allows for a decrease in withdrawal symptoms for the child after birth. The main categories of symptoms include central nervous system hyperirritability, gastrointestinal dysfunction, respiratory distress and vague autonomic symptoms (MacMullen et al., 2014). Although methadone has been being used for many years buprenorphine has only been used since 2002 in the United States (MacMullen et al., 2014). Their research was consistent with Kaltenbach et al. (n.d.) in that infants born to buprenorphine-exposed mothers had lower scores for NAS than those born to methadone-exposed mothers, but still had varying severities of symptoms and scores across all infants. For at least 10 days after birth, an expert scored the newborns on a modified Finnegan scale every 4 hours. The results showed that high birth weight was often a predictor for high NAS scores, along with lower NAS scores for infants delivered by cesarean section. MacMullen et al. (2014) were unable to find any connection between the use of methadone and buprenorphine to indicators of symptoms of NAS. The main

NAS is caused from the use of illicit drugs or substances during a mother’s pregnancy. In a recent study done to show the actuality of women using illicit drugs it was discovered that 4.5% of women reported drug usage. These women ranged anywhere from 15 to 44 years old (11). When mothers use drugs they are often not thinking of the harmful effects it could have on their unborn child or are so addicted that they cannot physically stop abusing them themselves. In a recent study, it showed that 11 to 16% of all pregnant women were taking at least one illicit substance (6). This may not seem like a lot of people but it is a substantial amount of women when you are looking at only those that are pregnant. Also, the mothers who used drugs while they were impregnated were also more likely to use multiple substances (1). The substances used all have their own effects but some general side effects from most drugs on the fetus