Number of babies born addicted to drugs shoots up in Capital

THE number of babies born addicted to drugs in Edinburgh has soared by almost 75 per cent in three years.

New official figures show 75 cases where new-born infants had to be treated for withdrawal symptoms or other effects of their mother's drug addiction in the three-year period from 2005-08, compared with 43 in the period 2002-05.

Across the Lothians, the number of such cases rose from 73 to 125 over the same period.

Politicians today said the figures highlighted a major problem which needed to be addressed urgently, while support workers admitted they were seeing more cases.

Foster carer Ruth Robertson, who has 13 years' experience of looking after babies born suffering from withdrawal symptoms, said: "The drug problem in Edinburgh seems to be worse than it was years ago." But she said not all mothers whose babies were born suffering the effects of drugs had to give up the children.

"There are a lot of women who have stable drug use who get their babies home. But it can't be easy for them. They need a lot of support.

"A lot of them follow drug programmes, trying to reduce their drug use before they have the baby.

"We don't recommend cold turkey because that can affect the baby."

Mrs Robertson, who also works as a midwife, said mothers were often very upset when they saw the condition their babies were in as a result of their drug use.

She said: "The babies are jittery, very difficult to feed because they can't co-ordinate their sucking, they have a high-pitched cry which can be very difficult to listen to.

"It's very like an adult would be doing cold turkey. They have upset stomachs and the shakes.

"They don't want to be cuddled, they just want to be left alone. Sometimes you just have to wrap them up and put them in a darkened room."

Separate figures show the number of drug-addicted women giving birth in Edinburgh has also soared – from 157 in 2002-05 to 263 in 2005-08. That represents an increase from 11.9 per 1,000 births to 18.4 per 1,000 births, almost double the Scottish average of 9.5 per 1,000 births.

Former health minister Malcolm Chisholm, Labour MSP for Edinburgh North & Leith, said: "It's a major worry because of the effect on the health of the baby and, if parents go on taking drugs, it's a concern in terms of the early years of the child.

"We need as much support and early intervention as possible."

Dr Dermot Gorman, public health consultant at NHS Lothian, said it was an issue which was being addressed.

"The use of drugs during pregnancy results in increased health risks for both mother and baby," he said

"In recent years we have invested in improving our process for identifying and recording this which has helped us to develop tailored support.

"We take a co-ordinated approach, working together with community drug services to support women during pregnancy and after giving birth.

"This has included establishing the PrePare Team – a multi- disciplinary team of community midwife, psychiatric nurse, health visitor and nursery officers who support pregnant women with substance misuse problems."