I Have a Question About “Babies Born in Addiction”?

Published February 13, 2014

Question by Anjel: I have a question about “Babies born in addiction”?
please help me understand (if you know)…
I know what addiction is (no cure)
I know what an addict is (once one always one)
so if a baby is born in his or her mother’s addictions (crack or heroin is what I’m looking into) will the baby ALWAYS be an addict?
What I’m trying to ask is since an addict will always be an addict will a “drug baby” born into addiction always be one and if that child ever did any drugs (later in life) will it cause an automatic relapse?

(2nd timed asked)

Best answer:

Answer by ashj_1218
Sort of. It is more complicated than what you are thinking. An addicted baby is not an addict. They were not choosing to use drugs and do not have a memory of using (no drive to have deal with). However, their brain holds the memory of being an addict so if there were to pick up the drug, or any drug, later in life, they will have about a six times greater likelihood of becoming an addict. Their body will respond different to the drug than someone who had never been addicted (even at birth). Drug addiction is genetic anyway, but it makes it way more likely if the child was actually addicted at birth. It would not be a relapse though.

Answer by Katiesmama11
The problem with your question is that it is too general to answer with any deal of authority. There are many different drugs out there and the effects will be different. Most longitudinal studies of how drug addiction affects a fetus is narrowed to a specific drug of choice, such as heroin or meth.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/48/2/178
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1807933

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