The cost in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for an infant with neonatal abstinence syndrome is an average of $3,500 per day, with an average length of stay of 30 days. In 2009, 77.6% of infants with NAS were covered by state Medicaid programs (Patrick, et al., 2012). Sometimes also referred to as neonatal withdrawal syndrome, it is a group of complications that occur in a baby after being exposed to narcotics in the womb. Some problems that can occur in a baby that is exposed to licit and illicit drugs at an early age can be but no limited to; behavioral, mental physical and physiological signs and symptoms. For the baby, both medical and developmental issues are a consequence of substance use by pregnant …show more content…
Central nervous system (CNS) symptoms include: irritability, increased wakefulness, high-pitched cry, tremors, increased muscle tone, hyperactive deep tendon reflexes, frequent yawning, frequent sneezing, and seizures. Gastrointestinal symptoms include: vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, poor weight gain, and poor feeding. Autonomic symptoms include: diaphoresis, nasal stuffiness, mottling, fever, temperature regulation issues, tachypnea, hypertension, and piloerection (Hudak & Tan, 2012). Other symptoms include high-pitched cry, jitteriness, tremors, convulsions, sweating, fever, mottling, excessive sucking, poor feeding, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, tight muscle tone, …show more content…
P., Connaughton J. F. Jr, Kron R. E., Emich J. P). The neonatal intensive care unit uses this scoring guide to determine the right path of treatment and severity of the syndrome. The first evaluation of the baby should be followed by an abstinence score and this should be taken no later than two hours after birth or admission to the nursery. This is what the neonatal intensive care unit will use as their baseline. After the first evaluation and the first score is recorded, the baby will be evaluated and a new score will be taken at four hour intervals. Although for the first twenty-four hours the baby will be evaluated every two hours. After the first twenty-four hours a new sheet will be started at the beginning of each day. There are 21 symptoms that most frequently seen in babies that are exposed to opiates at an early growing fetus stage. Some of which are listed above in recent paragraphs. The scoring is taken place during the first 3 days of life and during 3 consecutive days in weeks 5 or