One of the other things we used to do for babies of methadone mums at the hospital where I worked in Australia was put them on an abstinence chart. I assumed this was standard until I worked here in the USA and no-one at the hospital I'm at now had heard of it. Essentially it is a regular "scoring" for certain behaviours - high pitched cry, nasal stuffiness, fussiness at feeding, irritability, jerky movements - I can't remember the exact list and over a certain score they were seen by the paed resident. In some cases the babies were monitored in the level 2 nursery and given light sedation while withdrawing. Using the tool for years certainly came in handy a week or so ago, I was in report and someone commented on a baby that was particularly fussy whether feeding or not, and had a lot of nasal stuffiness. On review of mum's history it turned out she had a chemical abuse problem. Kirsten Blacker Perinatal Ed/ Ob RN Minnesota *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html