Dr Wefers said up to a 100 babies a year in the region would be born with some form of addiction. She said the symptoms ranged from relatively mild to extremely acute, where the child had developed a full-blown addiction to a drug and suffered the physical stress of withdrawal as a result.

“Of all the pregnancies that take place in Tayside it is roughly about 1.5% where we are aware of substance misuse problems,” said Dr Wefers.

“It is not necessarily heroin — there is a degree within that where it is predominantly cannabis or alcohol misuse — but about 40% to 50% of those mums may be involved in heroin as well.

“If they engage with the services offered to them, a lot of mums with babies on the way have the drive to sort things out.

“We can stabilise them with methadone during the pregnancy. We can wean that progressively and the baby may not have any symptoms at all.

“The babies that tend to get withdrawal symptoms are the ones where the mothers take opioids or diazepam.

“Withdrawal is not that different from what you see in adults. We often see babies that are very hyperactive and irritable and they often have a high-pitched cry and might be difficult to settle.

“They can be very hungry and looking for food, but they find it difficult to take food.

“At the extreme end, we do have to use medication to get the symptoms under control. In terms of actual withdrawal, we can manage that medically and we eventually get over that in a similar way to an adult.”

Dr Wefers said a multi-agency approach was taken to supporting the babies through their childhood. She added there were success stories where women managed to kick their habit and went on to provide a stable and loving home for their children.