A mothers drug use!!!

I have custody of my cousins baby because she was not taking care of him and would leave him with me for long periods of time without checking on him.  After getting custody of him i found out she was using while preganent(pot, Meth, and god knows what else).  And come to find out she was taking him to drug houses when she did have him and when she was confronted with it she said the drug houses she took him in was good ones because they was not smoking it they was shooting it up.  When i finally got custody he was 2 months old he is now a year old if i have a hair folical test done on him know will it show what she used when she was preganent with him?

[AnnieBrooke]

Unless the hair was on his head the day he was born and it is still there, it will not be useful for identifying substances in his body that long ago.  I don't even know if some of the substances to which he was exposed leave a measurable residue in hair, maybe someone else will know more.  Are you trying to find out just because you are curious what he was exposed to, or are you trying to answer whether his behavior now is indicative of some kind of problem due to drug exposure?  It seems like his pediatrician can give you some important guidance on both issues.

[peekawho]

  At age 1 year, I don't think a hair follicle test will tell you anything about what substances his mother ingested while pregnant.    At best, I believe hair follicle tests only "look back" 2 months or so.  

I'd have to go along with Brooke--why do you want to have "proof"?  Seems like you are pretty sure what she did, and can relay that information to any early childhood intervention program he may need, if you are seeing some problems with his growth and development.

By all means, consult his pediatrician.

[veryworriedparent]

To Annie and peek For one he has many problems he is 13 months old and the doctors say he is on a 9 months level when i first got custody his doctor at the time everytime i would say something about him not doing things he should have been doing all he would say was u never know with drug babies so i seeked another pediatrican and she ran test and found he has 2 much fluid on his brain that is causing him 2 be slow.  But they want 2 wait and watch 2 see if it will correct its self.  I have put him in every early development class i can.  So i thought if i could pin point what drug caused it we would know more.  Not only that she is preagnet again and i didnt know if i could prove her drug use with him then maybe there would be something we could do with the court systems to make her check into a rehab until after the baby is born to make sure that this one dont have the same problems as he does.  Thanks for yalls in put!!!!

[peekawho]

You may want to be sure her obstetrician knows that she used drugs during her last pregnancy.  But you'd better be 1000% sure of your facts, or you could be laying yourself wide open for legal problems.

If they know she had a drug problem last time, they can test her, with her consent, this time during the pregnancy.  If she does not consent, there is not much they can do, but her chart will be flagged during delivery.  The baby will then be tested--you don't have to have consent for that.

[heatherlynn22]

i know the frustration you're feeling worried. my cousin is also a drug user...was through all 3 of her pregnancies. her first child, tony who is now 8, turned out fairly normal. he's a slow learner which his pedi told his dad (who is an awesome guy) it's due to her using heroin, smoking marijuana and drinking during her pregnancy. her 2nd child (who was legally adopted by my aunt this past december, right before christmas! : o) ) is mentally slow and has problems with her legs (so bad that when she was running she fell and broke her arm...long story on the leg problem). with that pregnancy my cousin had hepatitis c but by the grace of God kayla did NOT get it! (she was tested every 6 months for the first 3 years of her life) but her mother used heroin, meth, smoke marijuana and drank during that pregnancy. her 3rd pregnancy (she gave birth in may to another little girl) has been the worst. this little girl went through 2 months of detox (from what i was told it was so bad that they were not expecting her to survive) and is going to have severe learning disabilities. this little one was taken into cys custody on her 2nd day of life when her mother decided (the day she gave birth she left 2 hours later without ever holding that precious little girl) that getting high on her b/f's front porch was WAY more important than the life of her daughter. during this pregnancy she used heroin, coke, meth, drank and smoked marijuana. luckily the doctors did blood tests on makenzie (she was nice enough to at least give the baby a name) and they came back positive for illegal substances. what's REALLY bad is when she went into labor and was taken to the hospital for this pregnancy she was high.

so i feel your pain and frustration. if dh and i had the means and space we would have gladly taken this newest baby. but with him being without a job and us only having 2 bedrooms....there would be no way we could provide for her. we have our 2 children to worry about. i definitely give you kudos for taking on this responsibility of raising her child. you're doing a wonderful thing by giving the boy a good, loving, stable home where he can grow up normally. you are a wonderful person!