Support Groups

(Support Group, 2016)

It is important for mothers who are addicted to narcotics to know there is support that they can turn to for assistance through pregnancy and post delivery. It will depend on the mother on what type of support will work well for her and her infant with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).

After finding out a woman is pregnant and is also addicted to narcotics, it is important to learn about what all can be passed to their new growing infant. This website is full of information of frequently asked questions of pregnant women. There is also a feature to email and chat with experts about questions related to narcotics transferring to the fetus and then newborn through both the umbilical cord and breast milk (MotherToBaby, 2014).

http://mothertobaby.org

For mothers who want to work toward being narcotic free, but it may be too dangerous to detox while pregnant, there is a possibility of looking to methadone clinics. This allows the mother to get on a methadone regimen that is monitored by the methadone clinic in her area. This gives the mother peace of mind to know she will not be going through withdrawal. Along with medication monitoring, there is counseling individualized for the mother to work on herself so she can be prepared for her soon coming infant (Methadone.US, 2016)

http://www.methadone.us/counseling-and-addiction-recovery/

For mothers who need more assistance after delivering their infant, there are facilities that take both the mother and infant and assist the mother through detox and learning to become a mom. An example is Good Shepherd Rehabilitation, this is an inpatient facility that works with mothers who need more hands on care with medication management with an infant with NAS. The criteria are that the mother is medically stable and the infant can maintain appropriate body temperature in an open crib (Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network, 2016).

http://www.goodshepherdrehab.org/neonatal-abstinence-syndrome-program

After becoming sober, the mothers can go to groups for support in continuing on their journey of staying clean. Mothers can go to Narcotics Anonymous (NA). These meetings focus on the disease of addiction, not just a specific drug of choice. This way the attendees address their addiction, not just a particular drug that he or she took for a limited about of time (NA World Services, Inc, 2016).

https://www.na.org/

References

Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network. (2016). Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Program. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://www.goodshepherdrehab.org/neonatal-abstinence-syndrome-program

Methadone.US. (2016). Counseling and Recovery, Addiction Recovery, Methadone.US. Retrieved March 14, 2016 from http://www.methadone.us/counseling-and-addiction-recovery/

MotherToBaby (2014). Home. Retrieved March 14, 2016, from http://mothertobaby.org

NA World Services, Inc. (2016). NA. Retrieved March 14, 2016 from https://www.na.org/

Support Group. (2016). Retrieved March 14, 2016, from https://www.google.com/search?q=supportgroup