{"id":614496,"date":"2026-04-19T13:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T13:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614496\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T13:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T13:19:11","slug":"more-babies-are-born-exposed-to-substances-in-n-l-as-system-struggles-to-keep-up-says-pediatrician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614496\/","title":{"rendered":"More babies are born exposed to substances in N.L. as system struggles to keep up, says pediatrician"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 9 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

When the pregnancy test turned positive in a bathroom in St. John\u2019s, the woman holding it started to cry.<\/p>\n

She was in a so-called trap house, a house used to sell and take drugs, and she was in a spiral of addiction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was using crack cocaine very heavily. I was like a complete zombie,\u201d said the woman whose identity is being withheld to protect her children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hated that I had left my kids for this hell\u2026 but I just couldn’t stop using.\u201d<\/p>\n

She already had three children, all of whom were living with family members. She\u2019d tried to get clean, get on treatment plans and get them back, but none of it had worked.<\/p>\n

Until that pregnancy test.<\/p>\n

She left the trap house and didn\u2019t go back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got away from it by the grace of God, and nothing will ever make me go back to it,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first person she told was her father, who helped her get and stay sober. But not all women who become pregnant while using substances are able to stop.<\/p>\n

LISTEN | Why keeping moms and babies together makes all the difference:<\/p>\n

Atlantic Voice26:09The babies born into the drug crisis<\/p>\n

Meet one St. John’s mom who got sober during pregnancy, and one pediatrician trying to help every similar case she comes across. Both of them want to change a system that’s struggling to help moms and babies in Newfoundland and Labrador, as the drug crisis climbs. Listen in Treated Together, a documentary by Caroline Hillier.50-60 babies a year<\/p>\n

More and more babies are being born exposed to substances in Newfoundland and Labrador \u2014 and one pediatrician says drugs are only part of the problem in a system that doesn\u2019t have enough support in place to help these families.<\/p>\n

Dr. Anne Drover is a pediatrician, advocate and associate professor with the faculty of medicine at Memorial University. (Submitted by Anne Drover)<\/p>\n

Dr. Anne Drover has been researching the problem she first witnessed around 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that was just maybe three or four in that first year. Now we are seeing probably about 50 to 60 a year,\u201d said Drover, a pediatrician and associate professor with the faculty of medicine at Memorial University.<\/p>\n

There is no comprehensive record keeping of statistics for babies born exposed to substances in Newfoundland and Labrador, but Drover has been using patient charts to track and compile the current numbers.<\/p>\n

Many of those babies are born to mothers receiving opioid agonist therapy, like methadone or Suboxone, and are doing well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we see these women who have been really well managed on their opioid agonist therapy, they’re having excellent outcomes of pregnancy,” said Drover.<\/p>\n

“They’re doing very well. They’re going to their medical appointments. They’re getting all their prenatal care. Baby is being born at term with an excellent size and having minimal to no withdrawal symptoms.”<\/p>\n

\u2018Not an addiction\u2019<\/p>\n

Babies who have been exposed to drugs in utero can be born with neonatal abstinence syndrome or neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome and can be jittery, and may have trouble feeding and sleeping.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not an addiction,\u201d said Drover.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 9 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-614496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}