{"id":15817,"date":"2018-05-08T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2018\/05\/08\/for-babies-of-the-opioid-crisis-best-care-may-be-moms-recovery\/"},"modified":"2018-05-08T20:30:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T20:30:00","slug":"for-babies-of-the-opioid-crisis-best-care-may-be-moms-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/for-babies-of-the-opioid-crisis-best-care-may-be-moms-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"For Babies Of The Opioid Crisis, Best Care May Be Mom's Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Jane Tribble<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n
Enlarge this image<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

\n Amanda Williammee and her daughter Taycee. Now a happy preschooler, the little girl was born with neonatal abstinence syndrome \u2014 a condition that includes opioid withdrawal symptoms like tremors, irritability, sleep problems and high-pitched crying.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sarah Jane Tribble\/KHN<\/p>\n

<\/b>hide caption<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/b><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Sarah Jane Tribble\/KHN<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Amanda Williammee pauses at the window of the toddler classroom at Horizons day care in Carrboro, N.C., to quietly check on her 2-year-old daughter Taycee.<\/p>\n

“I like to peek in on her and see what she’s doing before she sees me,” Williammee says. “I love watching her \u2014 it’s too funny.”<\/p>\n

There’s a dance party in progress. Soon, Taycee spots her mom, screams and comes running to the door.<\/p>\n

“Did you dance?” Williammee asks, leaning down to her daughter.<\/p>\n

It seems to be a pretty typical preschool pickup, but it’s not. Tied to the University of North Carolina Medical Center, Horizons is a residential substance use disorder treatment program<\/a> where mothers undergoing treatment can bring their children. The kids attend school or day care while mothers take classes and go to therapy sessions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Williammee, now 25, has struggled with addiction since she was a 19-year-old college student. She injected opioids during both her pregnancies and both of her babies were born with neonatal abstinence syndrome \u2014 a condition that includes drug withdrawal symptoms like tremors, irritability, sleep problems and high-pitched crying. Williammee remembers that withdrawals were harder for Taycee than they’ve been for 6-month-old Jayde.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t just like we had this two-week period at the hospital of her being sick. It went on for months because she did not sleep,” Williammee remembers. In those days Taycee only slept for 20-minute stretches and needed constant swaddling.<\/p>\n

On average, a baby is born in withdrawal from opioids every 15 minutes in the U.S., according to recent research.<\/a> That staggering statistic raises concerns among doctors and social workers \u2014 and among mothers like Williammee.<\/p>\n