A recent NPR interview (All Things Considered) with Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a pediatrician and professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health sheds some light on the impacts of the perinatal opioid epidemic.
Yes, babies are born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome and these newborns are struggling, but one must wonder if we have missed the mark on where else to focus efforts? Did we forget about the mother/infant dyad and that prevention and early intervention efforts might go further if we refocused on mom....
Dr. Sharfstein's recent article cites a "misguided panic". He questions what we learned from the "crack baby" epidemic in the 80's.
For those working on maternal and women's health, this article is not stating anything we didn't already know. The Mother/Infant dyad is inseparable and interventions that are good for the fetus, unborn and newborn MUST focus on mom's long term physical and emotional well being.
Take a read of this article and comment. Curious about your thoughts on how this might change your approach to NAS, perinatal substance use and how critically important maternal mental health and wellness is as a policy in all the work we do...
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