NIH study supports non‐medication approach for NOWS

Abstract

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has just released research — soon to be published, according to director Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. last week — that shows using the “eat, sleep, console” approach for neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) is better than the traditional method of giving the babies opioids, such as morphine, methadone, or buprenorphine. This has been known for years in terms of pregnant methadone patients who deliver babies with withdrawal symptoms: Simply letting the baby breastfeed, live in the same room with the mother instead of being in the neonatal ICU, and get a lot of cuddling and swaddling eliminates the need for medication and reduces the hospital length of stay. Using the NIH HEAL Initiative's Advancing Clinical Trials program, one study evaluated the eat, sleep, console approach compared to usual care in 26 hospitals, said Tabak, speaking at last week's Rx and Illicit Drug Summit in Atlanta. The eat, sleep, console approach “substantially decreased the time until infants were medically ready for discharge, did not affect safety outcomes through three months of age, and provides strong support,” said Tabak, adding that it should be the standard care for NOWS.