Meth baby - what to expect?

Intrauterine exposure to ANY drugs can leave ANY residual effects or none at all. There's no way to tell what this baby is going through or is going to go through as a result of the exposure unfortunately. There's no one definitive, if baby was exposed to cocaine X is going to happen or if baby was exposed to heroin Y is going to happen. This infant may never have an issue past it's withdrawl period or it might be profoundly and severely affected for the rest of it's life. My experience with babies exposed to meth in the womb is that they fare far better than those exposed to other drugs both short and long term. One little guy I had in particular literally slept 24/7 while he detoxed. Better part of two months I had to strip him down, rub his cheeks and tickle his feet just to get him to wake up and eat and even then he was extremely sluggish. Although scary at times I'd take that over the baby who screams in pain through that detoxing, shakes, seizes, vomits, has poos that literally burn their skin etc Not sure why baby is expected to stay in the hospital for up to 7 weeks unless there are other underlying medical problems symptoms of withdrawl can usually be effectively managed at home. As far as long term effects again, it's anyone's guess because there are so many factors...when the meth was used, in what amounts, how often, how fast mom metabolized the drug, if she used anything else in conjunction with the drug etc. Being aware developmental and emotional problems COULD arise in the future is the first step in heading them off with proper interventions. ECFE/Head Start type programs can be so helpful in identifying these problems and directing parents to the proper resources needed to nip them in the butt if possible. More info: [url=http://www.drugexposedinfants.com/meth.htm]Meth/Amphetamines[/url] [url]http://www.kci.org/meth_info/Crank_Babies/MethamphetamineUseDuringPregnancy.pdf[/url] [url=http://www.kci.org/meth_info/Crank_Babies/index.htm]Methamphetamine and Crank Babies - Children[/url] ps. just a side note, I hate it when people say "meth baby" "crank baby" "cocaine baby" etc. Personally I think it's demeaning to label an infant in such a negative way...they're just babies detoxing from intrauterine drug exposure