Baby has withdrawals from pain control narcotics

Question

my grandson, born 12/24/12, was hospitalized for rsv on jan 20. at some point he was pulling at the central line iv in his neck, which came out, and was given morphine for pain meds. after some time he was given methadone to come off the morphine. he came home from the hosp on feb 19th and had been off the methadone about a couple days. he has crying episodes and seems in pain. his mom called the nurses who told her he could be having withdrawal. no one told us about any of this when he was discharged. not sure how to help our little man and how long to expect this. any help?

selfinduced · Answer

Dela, I don't have any good words here as to how to sooth your grand baby, but just said a prayer for some peace for you and comfort for him. If you can't reach his Dr. tonight and he is still unsettled, I'd take him back to hospital just to be safe. So sorry for all you guys. xoxo

delacruzj · Answer

no, he was not born addicted to any narcotic. they had him sedated so he wouldn't move around because he had so many tubes in him. this was at children's hospital. he was on the morphine because of the pain in his throat from the respirator and the pain in his chest from the pneumonia. he was sedated for 3 weeks there almost like a medical coma. he is going to the doc for a followup tomorrow, just wondering if there is anything we can do in the meantime.

ImDONENoMore · Answer

I agree with the others.  We need to know a little more about this situation.  But I will say this is heartbreaking and definitely this baby needs to be seen again by the Dr.

marycarmel · Answer

absolutely should be seen by the physician.  I have a friend who is one of the nurses @ Children's Hosp.  We were talking about how sick some of the babies are & she mentioned they use methadone very often & that it's considered very safe ... though she told me they wean them off it very slowly.

vicki595 · Answer

That baby needs to be evaluated by his pediatrician and not anyone here. Please get him some medical attention.

YesLife4Me · Answer

I'm sorry to hear about this.   I'm sure it is hard to sit by and watch not knowing what you can do.   I am a little confused as to why they would be giving a baby morphine and then methadone. That is some pretty serious drugs.   Was he born addicted to opiates?    I've never heard of Dr's giving a newborn such strong meds.