Parents' presence at bedside found to decrease neonatal abstinence syndrome severity
New research suggests a key to easing the opioid withdrawal symptoms of neonatal abstinence syndrome is to ensure parents can spend plenty of time at the baby's bedside during treatment. NAS is an increasingly common condition infants develop after opioid exposure during pregnancy, with symptoms such as tremors, intense irritability, poor feeding, vomiting, diarrhea and poor sleep. It often requires weeks of hospitalization and pharmacologic treatment. Ref. Source 9q.
Mothers of children born with NAS are more likely to experience mental health problems. Women with a history of substance use disorders (SUD) have a high incidence of coexisting psychiatric and mood disorders as well as difficulty managing adversity. These characteristics may affect the ability of a pregnant woman with a history of SUD to cope with an infant with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), particularly one with a protracted neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) course, exacerbating symptoms of mental health disorders. Source 2e.