Birthmom and methodone

christineandaaron

Anyone have any experience working with a birth mother who was on a low dose of methodone during pregnancy? We have a potential match but some of the side effects of this on the baby are nerve racking. Bipolar disorder is another diagnosis but controlled well with meds. Baby appears healthy up to this point based on ultrasounds and whatnot. Any insight appreciated.

MrsKolasa

Our son's Birthmom was on a high dose of methadone. He had some withdrawal symptoms, and while they were hard to watch, he came out the other side pretty quickly. He also had severe reflux and that made it hard for him to gain weight for awhile, but it was managed with medication.

He's 2 1/2 now and developmentally on track. :-) I know it's scary, but after talking to our pedi and some family members who are doctors, we decided that we wouldn't have an issue with methadone exposure. 

If you have specific questions, feel free to email me josiekolasa (at) gmail (dot) com

I don't check the boards very frequently anymore. Good luck!

baze2

We just walked away from a situation where BM had used heroin and methadone daily. After talking to my brother (a pediatrician)..we felt better about the methadone use. It whe daily heroin, a long history on both birth familys of addicition issues and mental illness and BM hep c that helped to make the decision. (DH had an impaired liver if the baby had hep c..he would always be on pins and needles etc..not worth it)

However, he specificall stated that if it was methadone only he would not have worried about it at all.

good luck with your decision

silliestbunny

No advice about methadone but you may want to understand bipolar as it's related to drug usage.  Do you know if BM had symptoms of bi polar prior to drug usage.  It's usually hard to dice out but some drugs are thought to be related to bipolar... and if that's the case, the genetic component might not be present.

My #1 advice... talk w/your pediatrician.  If you don't have one yet, go get one today    A good pediatrician will help you navigate these tough waters.  She will want to care for your entire family so she will help you assess what your tolerance is for dealing with what some of the side effects are and she should do this w/o judgement.  Best resource available to you   Your own advocate.

znianiswan

If you have specific questions, feel free to email me josiekolasa (at) gmail (dot) com