Meth baby..ques??

Our oldest STILL is sensitive to sneezes, and he will be 9 months on the 25th. It will pull him out of a deep sleep and he starts screaming. Now, our 6 month old does not have the sensitivity to sounds, but he is very stiff. He is just starting to pull his legs to his tummy, and will still hold his arms straight out...and he is STRONG!! With her history with the system, I would expect that she will not be going anywhere any time soon. It is my understandin that meth is saturating the foster care system with children because not only is it SO addicitive, but it is SO inexpensive to make and readily accessible. Most parents who have lost multiple children seem to resign to the system i think. Sometimes KB just wants to be held...I like that because he is such a cuddle bug. KB...who was much more effected than BB...is also in weekly therapy because he has delays. He tested 67% delayed at 3 months old. Best of luck...you are an angel for helping one of the little victims of meth! They thrive on the love we give!

I know a foster mother who fosters drug exposed infants and she has told me that keeping the baby upright as much as possible is really important. She never lays them flat on thier backs, she always uses a baby seat or swing even at night. Also no light strokes, thier skin is VERY sensitive, especially thier heads. I imagine being born drug addicted is like having the WORST headache of your entire life. Where every sound is painful and light hurts your eyes. Poor babies. I have also heard that girls who have had drug exposure are oftern more resiliant than boys and tend to have less delays. Hopefully the worst of it will be over soon.

hey.. i have noticed the stiffness and the sensitivity to my touch and sounds..i feel so bad for her, my heart aches..i try cuddling her but she's been resisiting..the think i'm upset about the most is that we just found out today and we've had her for 8dys..mom tested pos. 1 week before delivery..why weren't we told about this?? i'm really put out w/ dfcs for many reasons @ this point..a foster parent here in town told me that she wasn't suppose to be placed w/ me since i have no exp w/ meth babies..her hubby is the chief deputy here so now hubby is worried she may try to have her taken from us..also, forgot to ask, how long does it take to detox? thank you both so much

As far as detox...meth can be out of your system in 3 days...the effects can last a lifetime. As far as telling you that Bmom tested positive...you have to respect the state in that they are bound by laws that protect the medical privacy of the birth parent...even if it means that the baby might be at risk. It is a glitch in the legal system and nothing they can do. It is a system that has become politically correct to a fault. An example, when I picked up our oldest, I was told "his father has a disease that will eventually kill him". Because of the father's right to privacy that is all they could tell me. I later found that Bmom was with both the alleged father AND his brother. One is positive for HIV, the other for HEPc. I found this out from his maternal aunt who was angry that the state never told us. We have sence tested for both and he is negative. Our youngest also was very sensitive to touch, but he had very little human contact for the first 8 weeks before he came to be with us. It did not take long for him to learn to love being cuddled. I would try to get some assurance from the CW as far as your ability to take a "meth" baby. We had no additional training and there was never a question or issue. Sounds like the little one is lucky to have you!

The first few months she may only accept touch through recieving blankets swaddled tightly around her. Has the doctor evaluated if the jerky movements could be withdrawl seizures? In Oregon we have really excellent helpful medically fragile infant classes; doesn't your state offer anything like that?

i'm not sure..i was told by another foster parent here that we weren't suppose to have her since we have no exp. in this area..our agency will pretty much put any kind of child in your home from what we've seen..she had a great day yesterday..not as fussy, loved her bath, and we held her almost all day and sang to her..a few time she smiled..lol we go back to dr on wed, i'll mention that to him..thanks

I don't know which of my sons early behaviors were due to which things he was exposed to prenatally and which might have other causes, and all I know is what I've experienced - so if someone else posts who has more info, go w/ them! I'd encourage you to keep holding her as much as possible (if I were to do it again, I'd have worn him in a sling as much as possible). He had a lot of jerking that would wake or startle him and his whole body would go rigid when he was upset. After a while he realized that we would hold him while he tantrumed and respond to him when he cried and he would calm down faster and finally became calmer in general. He was still having big tantrums at 5 mos old after being w/ us 2 mos but I can't really remember a full screaming, rigid tantrum much after that. Now we have normal almost 2 yo tantrums. My advice is: Persevere. Keep responding to her and being w/ her. I've read that these little ones may have sleep problems long term, ours was 12 mos. before he did his first sleep all night long and still didn't do it consistently till he was older. Seek out the experts and ask the questions, look for information in books and articles and from other parents. God bless.

My son is 17 months old and still feeling the effects of meth, cocaine, and Lord knows what else when it comes to his sleep patterns. We got him at seven months, and at that time, he hated to be held, wanted no touching at all, startled at the slightest sound or flash of light, everything. Now, he loves to be held except if he wakes up in the middle of the night (which he does at least twice a night...) Swaddling VERY tightly in a blanket is still the most comforting thing for him as well as playing music that is only used at bedtime. I hate it. I WANT to rock him. I want to sing him lullabies and let him fall asleep on my shoulder. (I've had over twenty little ones come through my house before him, and that is by far my favorite part of the "job.") I want to comfort him. But I can't. It just frustrates him more and makes the screams louder as he's pushing me away. I wish I had better advice, but I have yet to find it myself. Some of the research I have done says they many of them will always have disrupted sleep patterns, and the more encouraging ones say that most of them outgrow it around three. I'm in it for the long haul with this little guy (YEAH!) so I'll find out myself. As far as your frustrations with your agency go, the placement worker doesn't always know everything the worker who removed the child from her birth home knows. Often times, the worker doing the removal doesn't even know about these things until they start working with the birth mother and getting her caseplan put together. Good luck!

I use to foster 0-2, I stopped after my last drug baby, couldn't handle seeing it anymore. I spoke to a nurse in the nicu unit, she said the babies are very sisnitive, and don't really want to be held, said if i would swaddle her in a blanket, and place her in the carseat, put blanket over seat so theres no light she would sleep, well after 5 days of nonstop crying we did this, OMG, it works. I went back and spoke to this lady again, her advice was, no swing's or bouncers, try to keep the child as still as possable. Tyr not to touch them to much, and wisper to them.these's things are hard to do since we want to hold babies and coo at them, but for meth babies, really they just want to be left alone. As far as you not having the baby because you didn't have experiance, where do ppl get experiance if they never have a meth baby? Good luck, and God bless all you who take and detox these little ones, but most of all God bless these babies

Our baby girl came to us at 4 weeks, she had been left to sleep in a car seat constantly probably due to the sleep problems so she couldnt stand to lay down flat. I slept with her right away in my bed, took awhile but she learned to relax to be rocked. She is almost 5 months now and I am only concerned about what could be seizures, but even those I havent noticed for about 4 weeks now. I was just starting to get concerned about her lack of bonding when she started to dramatically show how much she was attached by crying with mom or anyone else during visits. Hang in there, it could get better quickly as in our case.

Our drug exposed babies have all loved to be swaddled and they all have slept in the baby papasan chair and LOVED it. It cradles them better than others do. They also are sensitive to light touch so watch that when you are trying to cuddle the baby that you are not caressing or rubbing any of their skin...that could be why the baby is resistant to your cuddling. We also found our babies to be sensitive to sound and light. REmember that love is still their number one need and in order to give that well you have to take care of YOU!

Hello...I had an experience with a meth baby that I want to pass on. She was very fussy too..as they are..but discovered she had a swallowing disorder. These babies are affected neurologically and the formula was not being swallowed "in sync". This is a common problem with meth babies. Make sure this is ruled out. This baby had a test done at the hospital where they watch them drink on an ultrasound. The solution is to put cereal in their formula to thicken it until they outgrow it. Mine did at about 4 months old. They can aspirate so its important this is ruled out. Once the formula was thickened, she slept so much better and was more content. Good-luck. Hang in there. AnnaE