Technically, the term addicted babies should refer to infants who are born passively physically dependent on drugs. In practice, it is used to refer to all babies extensively exposed to drugs before birth. According to a recent federal government report estimated that in the United States each year some 320,000 babies are born exposed to alcohol and illicit drugs while in the uterus; a far larger number have been exposed, in utero to sedatives and nicotine. The increased recognition of such drug-exposed babies parallels the dramatic increase in drug use, both licit and illicit, by women since the beginning of the 1970s.

Drug-addicted women often use multiple substances—including ALCOHOL, NICOTINE, MARIJUANA, TRANQUILIZERS, COCAINE, and OPIOIDS (e.g., HEROIN and METHADONE). The drugs are carried across the placenta from mother to fetus. The clinical presentation of the newborn (neonate) depends on the substance, the amount...