Mom's Prenatal Opioids May Stunt Kids' Learning

Learning disabilities and other special education needs are common in children born with opioid-related symptoms from their mother’s drug use while pregnant, according to the first big U.S. study to examine potential long-term problems in these infants.
The study found that about 1 in 7 affected children required special classroom services for problems including developmental delays and speech or language difficulties, compared with about 1 in 10 children not exposed to opioids before birth.
The study involved about 7,200 children aged 3 to 8 enrolled in Tennessee’s Medicaid program. Nearly 2,000 of them were born with what’s called newborn abstinence syndrome. It’s a collection of symptoms caused by withdrawal from their pregnant mother’s use of opioid drugs like prescription painkillers, heroin or fentanyl. The drugs can pass through the placenta into the developing nervous system.
Tremors, hard-to-soothe crying, diarrhea and difficulty feeding and sleeping are among signs that infants are going through withdrawal.