# Antenatal Drug Use



## baby0684 (May 20, 2012)

Hi. I just wanted some advice really.

What are the complications for children short and long term of mum who took drugs when she was pregnant?

My SW is coming to show me a profile in a couple of days, and from what she has told me this is the only thing that I am concerned about.

Has anyone adopted a child whos birth mother has used? How were they when they moved in, what effects has it had on them in their life, both as a younger child and becoming older to an adult.

Thankyou x


----------



## keemjay (Jan 19, 2004)

if you can get hold of this book its a good one.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Exposed-Parental-Substance-Misuse/dp/1903699274/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364924990&sr=8-1-spell

kj x
/links


----------



## peacelily (Feb 24, 2006)

You beat me to it KJ    can't help personally, but this is a really good suggestion.


I guess you also need to find out how much and what drugs, and if LO needed treatment for withdrawal at birth. How about alcohol? Sadly, the two often go hand in hand.


Peacelily


----------



## thespouses (Jan 5, 2006)

Yes it's really variable and depends on all the things that have been mentioned. If the child was in a drug using home after birth that is important too.


----------



## baby0684 (May 20, 2012)

Read cpr today. Said that child had heroin, crack and alcohol.
Didn't have much withdrawl and meeting milestones.

Said may have risk of learning disability. But everything else looked good.

Has anyone had experience of chance of/ or had learning disability? How has it affected the child, what things have you put in place to help?


----------



## thespouses (Jan 5, 2006)

How old is the child? How long were they in the birth home? What's the feeling about the amount of alcohol vs the other drugs?


----------



## Dame Edna (May 17, 2007)

Hi Baby

First off, congrats on getting this far   

It really is a case of 'do your own research' with this   . Every case will be different and long term outcomes will vary greatly.  However, there are a few questions you may like to ask:-

1.  Was baby full term?  This is a good sign.

2.  Was baby a good weight at birth?  Again, this is a good sign as low weight premature babies, post drug exposure, tend to have worse outcomes and suffer with more developmental problems.

3.  You say baby is meeting milestones.  This is good.  However, presumably they are stating the child 'may' go on to have learning difficulties due to genetic factors?  Have birth parents got learning difficulties?  If so, is there a long history of learning difficulties in the family (ie. Indicating some genetic predisposition).  Did the birth parents have a tough childhood themselves which might explain some of the learning difficulties?  Could the learning difficulties suffered by the birth parents (assuming there are some learning difficulties) be due to environmental issues (ie. Not genetic)?  Even with the CPR you may never know the answers to these questions but the cpr should give you a few clues.  Your SW 'may' be able to help you with this.

4.  How do you feel about worst case scenarios?

You no doubt know this, but alcohol is the biggest risk to the baby's future development.  You may never know how much alcohol baby was exposed to but if bm is a chronic alcoholic then you can be pretty certain that baby will have been affected   

What does the medic think of baby's progress?  Are they positive?  You need to be able to see a full medical report and speak with the medic.  Also, make sure any medical report is recent!  

Do you feel drawn to the baby?!

Other than that, it is over to you to do your own research!  You will find that your SW can help and advise you to a certain extent BUT SW's are not medics so be careful!  The medic is the person you really need to talk to.  

I wish you all the very best and hope he is 'the one' for you 

X
PS.  Does the child have any siblings?  If so, how are they doing?


----------



## baby0684 (May 20, 2012)

Thanks for the reply dame edna.

Dad is unknown so no history from him, mum not got learning difficulties, she has had a complicated time

Baby was full term, and a decent weight.

Medical just said there may be a chance that baby may get in the future.

The more I talk bout stuff, the more I want to do it. 

Not sure what worst case would be. Tried to find out, but websites complicated/not clear.


----------



## thespouses (Jan 5, 2006)

Although people will tell you "no amount of alcohol in pregnancy is safe", and the behavioural effects of alcohol often don't show up till school years, I do think there is a difference between someone who mainly uses alcohol - is a chronic alcoholic - and someone who uses anything they can find, and someone who uses drugs out of preference and drinks "socially" (where "socially" means "when they are offered some"). 

So it seems unlikely that the baby has major developmental delay due to extreme alcohol consumption but you could still see behavioural problems due to moderate alcohol levels.  I am not sure about crack though I know it can cause strokes around the time of birth, and heart problems, you'd know about them. I believe heroin mainly causes problems around the time of birth.

The other thing to be wary of is undiagnosed mental illness and learning difficulties (e.g. ADHD) in the birth parents.  We too have no info on birth father. but had some info on bmum that has been worrying and again we probably won't know till little boy hits school years.  We decided to go ahead with the match anyway, if that helps!


----------



## wynnster (Jun 6, 2003)

I believe worst case would be FAS due to the alcohol exposure so maybe research on that.  Unfortunately with such little ones no one can say how the child will be in the future, but SW's will want to know that you want to be this little one's mummy regardless   

I also just want to remind you that this forum is public and anyone reading it wouldn't take much to work out who you're referring to, perhaps delete this thread or edit the personal information contained within. 
Good luck x


----------



## baby0684 (May 20, 2012)

I thought Id done well not revealing all the information. But over the posts I have.

Thanks for pointing it out wynnster. I will delete the post.

Thankyou all for helping


----------



## MummyAuntieKatie (Oct 18, 2012)

Am reading with interest as it's something we will need to consider with the LO we may be linked with...


----------

