Might get NB on methadone

I brought my baby home on day 3 from hospital, he was addicted to methadone and miraculously he is on no meds and perfect! He is 15days old today....I took his brother home in feb at 9 days on meds...but he was addicted to crack, heroin, every other drug they test for...now at 11 months he has been med free for 9 months and is perfect :)

Was mom using methadone or methamphetamine?

You keep saying the baby will be on methadone (heroin replacement drug), but referring the parents as using "meth," which usually means methamphetmine/crystal meth. The treatment for meth addiction is not methadone; it's a different class of drugs.Methadone withdrawals are very had on infants, but can be managed with a stepped-down doses over time, supervised by a doctor. These babies are often colicky, need to be handled gently and moved slowly so as not to startle them. They like to be swaddled, tend to have digestive problems, and can have lots of tactile sensory issues. Opioid-addicted infants are also prone to eye problems such as lazy or crossed eyes.I don't know what the protocol is for medically treating crystal meth withdrawal in infants (or what the symptoms are), but it wouldn't be methadone. Meth babies tend to dislike being touched, may have tremors, and can cry for hours and hours without stopping--the excessive crying and intolerance of touch can lead to lack of bonding, which, of course can lead to long-term attachment issues. Meth babies look a lot like crack/cocaine babies in behaviour and temperament.

I was told parents are methheads. Bad...

Our first placement was a LO from the NICU who came home on methadone and reflux meds. Giving the meds were simple (liquid in a syringe), getting the methadone was not as easy. We ended up having to pick it up from the hospital she was placed from (an hour away) because no local pharmacy carried the liquid version. CW even had me calling drug treatment facilities to see if we could get it from them. Nothing like calling and saying "I need liquid methadone for a baby".... nothing but silence from the other end of the phone!!! She was on quite a large dose and the plan was to taper it very very slowly. She went home after only a month but I know 6 months later she was still on it. She was born with several drugs in her system and they used morphine several times during her stay (4 weeks, born at 33 weeks) to help with withdrawals. I cannot agree enough with the pp who stated that it is important to stay on a strict dosing schedule. When we brought her home the times the hospital were using didn't work for us (two in the morning, two in the afternoon). So they told us to simply switch it to what we wanted, no gradual change just cold turkey switch. Was the worst experience of my life. We didn't have any training and should have thought ahead but instead blindly followed their directions.

Squeaks was on methadone- bm used heroine, methadone (legally I think) and amphetamines. She was in NICU for 5 weeks, they released her to us after being off of morphine/methadone for 3 days. Some things we experienced: LOTs of gastrointestinal distress.. colic, frequent loose stool. Rapid-repeated sneezing, general stuffiness. Over-active "sucking"- smacking of lips. Some night-sweats and an occasional tremor- though she never shook constantly. The worst part was the tummy trouble- you could tell it really hurt her and that would insight the high-pitched cry. She was consolable though- so that was good! It took trying a few different motions when rocking her. She loved her "mama-roo" chair in the NICU. We came really close to buying one- would have if she had ever been truly inconsolable or stayed in that phase of withdrawal for long. But- we saw improvement every day. I did switch her formula twice and landed on Soy only. I think that she had two things going on- NAS and lactose intolerance. She is now a happy 3 month old- the only symptoms we still see are the sneezes, but that could also be a new baby getting used to environmental triggers. Good luck! I understand they all react differently. Swaddling is your friend!

Thanks ladies we may hear Tom or she may have been placed. All of this is good info. I am thinking maybe mom was on multiple things? Idk...