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Family Forum / Parenting / Parenting / March 2008Parenting a baby of a vicodin addict
My wife and I are in our mid-50s, and we are foster-parenting a 4-week old infant born of a vicodin addict (yes, she was taking vicodin during her pregnancy, as well as smoking, drinking, etc.). The baby seems "normal" most of the time, but last night, he was crying uncontrollably, and was completely inconsolable. It was so bad, my wife took him to the ER, but there was little they could do. He had a slight temperature, and was vomiting (well, more like the normal puking an infant does when they've had too much formula). The ER said he was having reflux problems and prescribed some medication to deal with that. He's such a sweet little boy, it breaks my heart to see him turn beet- red and cry his heart & lungs out, while my wife and I stand by doing nothing, other than comforting him, and making sure his diapers are clean, and feeding him (when he will take it). I guess my question is: what are the symptoms of vicodin addiction in infants? What (if anything) can we do as foster-parents to help the baby as he works it out of his system? > My wife and I are in our mid-50s, and we are foster-parenting a 4-week > old infant born of a vicodin addict (yes, she was taking vicodin [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > infants? What (if anything) can we do as foster-parents to help the > baby as he works it out of his system? When the baby had the slight temperature, was he sweating? That crying is a lot of work and if (as I suspect) you had him well covered maybe that's where the warmth came from. If sweat then probably no fever. Withdrawal symptoms come at withdrawal time, and what you say sounds too late for that. However, he's been in a poisoned environment thru much or all of his development, i.e., you may have a Big Problem there and if you are not getting expert advice, then you want to find some. There is this in your situation, that you need to know enough yourself to recognize expert and relevant advice (both in same bundle, as does not always happen) so that you can choose who to listen to and who not. Babies don't feel and emote like us adults do. In babies, the feelings run and ebb like great tides, i.e., kind of slow. You need to allow time for things to happen next after knowing in advance what is the right thing to do. I watched this in reverse on a subway one night: a woman with a very upset baby, she changed her strategy completely about every two minutes. The baby could have been crying because it was confused and frightened by this. Do you have a rocking chair? If not, you want to find one immediately. It wants a low seat with arms wide around not rigidly narrow and upright, which gives room inside for the occupant and the baby. My ideal is a rocking chair that squeaks. Then you sit in there and you talk -- the more you sound like the Nearsighted Mr Magoo, the better it works. If the baby *will not* quiet down, then at least you are seated. The baby does not understand your words but babies are very sensitive to what's behind the words. So there are some ideas ... and Do Not underestimate the surely very large effect this baby's past will have on the baby. You need to learn some clinical thinking, if the baby seems ok you could be missing something. If you could fall in with some Down's syndrome parents then you might get some ideas. The one idea you want to avoid is the idea that if your own intent and thoughts are pure, it will all come out ok. This baby wants the very best you can find to do -- and *you* should hope to be lucky but don't count on it. Cheers -- Martha Adams [sci.med 2008 Mar 03] Martha, thanx for the suggestions. When my wife took him to the ER, she didn't say anything about sweat. And the ER doctor didn't mention anything about vicodin symptoms, so maybe we're making a bigger deal out of this than we should. The reflux medication seems to be helping; although he still isn't sleeping through the nite yet, at least when he woke last nite, it wasn't the uncontrollable & inconsolable crying of a couple of nites ago. He sees his doctor again today, and my wife plans to ask specifically about any vicodin withdrawal symptoms we should be on the look-out for, and what, if anything, we can do to make him comfortable. By the way, we do have a rocking chair, and it does seem to help when we rock him. Thanx again. > My wife and I are in our mid-50s, and we are foster-parenting a 4-week > old infant born of a vicodin addict (yes, she was taking vicodin [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > ER said he was having reflux problems and prescribed some medication > to deal with that. This sounds like a regular baby with reflux. This may have no relationship to the vicodin. On Mar 27, 1:43 am, "Beth In Alaska" <bethi...@spamfreeclearwire.net> wrote: > This sounds like a regular baby with reflux. This may have > no relationship to the vicodin. I think you're right -- his doctor has seen him several times and never mentioned vicodin, but has prescribed some reflux medication. Thanx |
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