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Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a critical time to identify opiate addiction and facilitate the transition to an opioid maintenance treatment program. It is important that care be coordinated with obstetric care providers and treatment providers. 

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Detoxing for pregnant women can be dangerous from mom and baby. Providing a comprehensive, holistic approach to prenatal care allows opiate dependent pregnant women to prevent miscarriage, fetal distress and premature labor. 

At Lanier Treatment Center, we are dedicated to creating a safe, non-stressful environment for your recovery.

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Women who become pregnant while addicted to opiates or heroin are passing on the harmful effects to babies. Seek help now.

Pregnancy and MAT

According to the Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, it is estimated that among pregnant women, about 5-20% abuse drugs, most being opiates. Medication assisted treatment continues to be the recommended therapy for pregnant women with opioid use disorder. For opioid use disorder in pregnancy, it is recommended to do opiate maintenance versus detox and withdrawal in order to reduce relapses and improve overall outcomes of the pregnancy.

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Our goal at Lanier Treatment Center is to understand and treat the patient in a controlled setting. It is common for women to delay care out of fear or shame of their addiction but, at Lanier Treatment Center, we are here for you. We want to build a relationship with you and your prenatal care provider to ensure optimal health of pregnant women and their unborn babies.

Safety for Baby

Known adverse outcomes of opiate abuse during pregnancy include but are not limited to preterm labor, infant and maternal death, and neonatal abstinence syndrome. Also, detoxing and withdrawing from heroin or opiates while pregnant is very dangerous. Undergoing holistic prenatal care with medication-assisted treatment greatly reduces health problems for mothers and unborn babies.

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Methadone and buprenorphine are safe alternatives for mothers and babies and neither form of treatment has been shown to cause birth defects. However, your child may experience some side effects such as neonatal withdrawal syndrome at birth. If necessary, babies can easily be treated for this in the hospital and symptoms are typically not prolonged.

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Breastfeeding while undergoing medication assisted treatment is also safe. While there is a small amount of the medicine in breast milk, the nutritional benefits are critical to the health of new babies. For this reason, physicians recommend nursing your baby while using methadone or buprenorphine.

Information for Women

If you are a patient at Lanier Treatment Center and may be pregnant, please let our staff know immediately. Our team will need documentation of your prenatal care and a release form to communicate with your prenatal care provider. It is also very important that your OBGYN knows you are being treated for opioid use disorder.

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Dosing requirements will be determined on a case by case basis. It is important that women in treatment do not experience withdrawal symptoms as this can be passed along to the baby or result in miscarriage. Please notify our staff if you’re experiencing symptoms from of withdrawal from methadone or buprenorphine.

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If you are addicted to heroin or opiates, please contact us today to find out your options for mother and baby.

You may have heard that you should not take methadone when pregnant. This is not true.

Fast Facts

Fast Facts
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