On learning last year she was pregnant with her second child, Cailyn Morreale was overcome with fear and trepidation. "I was so scared," said Morreale, a resident of the small western North Carolina town of Mars Hill. In that moment, her joy about being pregnant was eclipsed by fear she would have to stop taking buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid withdrawal that had helped counter her addiction.
Morreale's fear was compounded by the rigidity of the most common approach to treating babies born after being exposed in the womb to opioids or some medications used to treat opioid addiction. For decades throughout the opioid crisis, most doctors have relied on medication-heavy regimens to treat babies who are born experiencing neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. Those protocols often meant separating newborns from their mothers, placing them in neonatal intensive care units, and giving them medications to treat their withdrawal.
But research has since indicated that in many, if not most, cases, those extreme measures are unnecessary. A newer, simpler approach that prioritizes keeping babies with their families called Eat, Sleep, Console is being increasingly embraced. In recent years, doctors and researchers have found that keeping babies with their mothers and ensuring they're comfortable often works better and gets them out of the hospital faster.
Despite her worst fears, Morreale was never separated from her son. She was able to begin breastfeeding immediately. In fact,.
