Oxycontin Effect on Toddler?
Question by Eema: Oxycontin Effect on Toddler?
Mother was known to abuse Oxy when pregnant, but beyond “several times”, degree unknown. Also unknown is whether child presented withdrawal symptoms upon birth. NOW, 14 mo old can sit up, but is NOT crawling, NOR attempting to walk, beyond occasionally trying to “pull up” on furniture? Toddler chks out ‘fine’ /w ped (who is clueless on Oxy issue); family wants to know if Oxy use can be culprit in slightly-delayed milestones? CanNOT find ANYTHING on web a/b relative to any “prolonged effect” on children of mothers who used oxy whilst pregnant? Not even much relative to fetal development (beyond withdrawal issues). Only pat answer found: “do NOT breastfeed”. Mother did not. I’m suspecting Oxy IS culprit; family is keeping blinders in place….
never meant to convey that the main objective in requesting input was where to place “blame”; beyond the intervention currently (finally!) going on re: mother, just concerned re: long-term affect on child, if any. Apparently, scientifically, there have been NO “long term” studies on effects of children by mothers recreationally taking opiates. Therefore, there really are no firm answers. Should have more strongly stated that mother was NOT prescribed Oxy @ any point, by any professional, hence the wording “abused”. Thanks for taking time to answer.
Best answer:
Answer by larry
“mother” should have the child taken away… and obviously the child has some brain damage. So yea I would say she was abusing it during pregnancy..
Answer by Mathieu
It is impossible to know without more information. Typically opioids (especially oxycodone) are surprisingly safe during and after pregnancy. If it is unknown if there were withdrawal symptoms I would say if there was not any or it must have been mild.
When you say your mum “abused” OxyContin are you saying she took more medication than was prescribed? And if she was not taking the OxyContin continuously then physical dependence (in either the mother or child is unlikely).
Also just because a child is not hitting all the bench marks does not mean a lot. Some kids just take a bit more time.
Oxycodone use in pregnancy (these are animal tests) have revealed NO evidence of harm to the
fetus due to oxycodone, safe use in HUMAN pregnancy has not been established. Reproduction studies have been performed in rats and rabbits at doses up to 3 and 47 times the usual human doses and have revealed no evidence of impaired fertility or harm to the fetus due to oxycodone.
As a result oxycodone is US pregnancy category B meaning that animal studies have shown no problems but without human tests it is impossible to be sure. I think most, if not all other opioids are category C.
Evidence indicates (and the official opinion is) that lactation is “probably safe.” Some oxycodone may be present in breast milk but the concern is that the baby may become overly sedating, little more. Keep in mind that in medical science very few things are absolutes.
The biggest issue from OxyContin is potential physical withdrawal the baby may go threw. If you can try to get records to see if withdrawal did occur.
If it were me I would wait a bit longer, “slightly-delayed” milestones is not something that requires you to go to “red alert.” Also the way milestones are often measured if a baby is not getting them all often people want to blame and what is better to blame than a drug?
If problems continue then you should get a second opinion and if the child keeps falling behind then consultation with pediatrics, OB/GYN, neurology, and even psychiatry may be needed. It is certainly not comforting that the current doctor knows nothing about oxycodone (at least he is honest, a lot of doctors may just pretend they know) and if he is not really concerned then you should not be either.
Of all the opioids oxycodone is the safest in pregnancy and I have not heard of problems. Actually often patients taking non-opioid drugs for pain (most of which are significantly more dangerous than opioids in pregnancy) will be put on opioids because they are actually fairly safe.
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