| The objective of this research study is to determine the effects that breastfeeding has on methadone exposed infants with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), born at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Methadone has been identified as the optimal treatment for pregnant women who are addicted to opiates. However, intrauterine exposure to drugs, including methadone, may lead to neonatal intoxication or withdrawal, also known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). Treatment of NAS is dependent on the severity of symptoms. Breastfeeding may have an effect on the NAS symptoms by way of methadone excretion in breast milk. Subjects were a convenience sample of 28 mother and infant pairs (nmothers= 28, ninfants= 28) who were exposed to methadone. This group was further divided according to the chosen feeding method (nbreast= 8, nformula= 9, ncombination= 11). An area score was computed for each infant via their NAS scores to show that infant's area under the curve. A one-way analysis of variance was used to test the differences in the area under the curve scores for each group (p<0.05). The area scores differed significantly where, F(2, 26) = 3.69, p = 0.0401. Methadone exposed infants who were breastfed exhibited less overall neonatal abstinence symptoms when looking at the magnitude, duration and area of scores. This means their NAS symptoms were relatively low compared to infants who were formula fed, or both breast and formula fed combined. |
