| In the past five years, there were 1329 cases of babies craving for heroin or methadone after being born in Scots hospitals, according to figures by the Scottish Executive.
Of the 50,378 births in Scotland during 2001-2002, there were 255 cases — a fall of 63 on the previous year, although there were 2004 fewer births.
In Tayside, there were seven cases of babies being treated for a drug addiction developed in the womb during 2001-2002, up by five births on the previous year.
In Fife, there were eight such babies born in the last two years.
However, the figures may not be telling the whole story as they exclude home and non-NHS hospital births.
SNP shadow health minister — Dundee MSP Shona Robison — said the only solution was to try and get the drug addict to kick her habit during pregnancy, but admitted that can often be “very difficult”.
“It’s obviously a very concerning issue that there are still so many babies being born with a drug addiction.
“It’s very traumatic to deal with and clearly it could be very dangerous for the baby while they are being withdrawn from the drug.
“I think the onus is on the health professionals to try and work with the mother during pregnancy to try to encourage her to come off of the drug, or minimise her drug use, and make sure they are aware of the impact their drug use will have on their new-born baby.
“That’s the only thing that can be done to try to reduce the figures and, hopefully, minimise the number of babies born with that condition.
“But getting the mother off drugs is very difficult.
“Clearly a lot of drug addicts live pretty chaotic lifestyles, a lot of the time not thinking rationally, and it’s hard to get them to see the dangers drug addiction will have for their new-born baby.”
Babies born with a drug addiction need to be carefully observed and occasionally medication may be required to reduce the symptoms of drug withdrawal.
Once they have left hospital, the babies’ progress is monitored by community health staff, who work closely with the parents and liaise with other relevant agencies.
The figures were released by the Scottish Executive in a written answer to SNP North East Scotland MSP Richard Lochhead, who asked how many babies have been born with a drug addiction in each NHS board area in each of the last five years.
Grampian recorded the highest number of “drug addict” babies in 2001-2002, with 86. There were 33 babies born with a drug addiction in Glasgow, 29 in Argyll and Clyde, Lothian 28, Ayrshire and Arran 26, Lanarkshire 19, Dumfries and Galloway 13, Fife 8, Tayside 7 and Forth Valley 6.
Locally, between 1997-1998 and 2001-2002, Tayside recorded 24, 13, 5, 2 and 7 in each year. In Fife, there were 6, 10, 15, 8 and 8 babies born with a drug addiction in each of the five years.
Last year, there were 1.85 drug addiction births per 1000 births in Tayside compared to 3.13 the previous year. In Fife there were 2.27 per 1000 in each of the years.
Children’s charity NCH Scotland estimate there are just under 1000 babies a year born to drug-using mothers — one in 56 of all births.
These were figures contained in last year’s Factfile Scotland, an annual publication from NCH Scotland that pulls together information from a wide range of sources to provide a picture of what is happening today to children and young people in Scotland. |
