CPS: Newborns with opioid withdrawal do better cared for by mom, versus stay in NICU

TORONTO With the opioid crisis leading to a rising number of babies suffering withdrawal symptoms from exposure to the drugs while in the womb, the Canadian Paediatric Society is issuing recommendations to doctors and hospitals on how to better care for these vulnerable newborns and their mothers.

The CPS released a guidance document Thursday advising that babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome and their mothers should room together in hospital when possible, rather than the baby being sent for treatment to the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU.

“Weeks of separation can be harmful to early bonding and attachment and risks making a bad situation worse for both mothers and their babies,” said Dr. Thierry Lacaze, chair of the CPS fetus and newborn committee and primary author of the practice document.

“Keeping mothers and their infants together has been shown to lower NICU admissions, promote breastfeeding, shorten hospital stays and decrease the need for prescription drugs.”

In 2016-2017, about 1,850 babies were born after being exposed to addictive drugs taken during pregnancy by their mothers, a jump of 27 per cent from 2012-2013, data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows. A large proportion of these neonatal abstinence syndrome cases were attributed to withdrawal from opioids like oxycodone, hydromorphone and fentanyl.

Lacaze, head of the neonatal program at the University of Calgary, said babies typically begin experiencing withdrawal from in-utero exposure to the powerful narcotics within 12 to 24 hours after birth, exhibiting such symptoms as extreme irritability and problems with feeding and sleeping.

“In the worst-case scenario, those babies can even develop seizures,” he said.