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Charlotte hospital using special room to treat newborns suffering from opioid withdrawals

CHARLOTTE, NC — It's not the nursery most new mothers dream of. Instead, the room is dark, isolated, and cut off from almost all light and sound.

Staff at Novant Presbyterian hospital call it "the quiet room."  It's housed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and is used to treat newborns who are suffering from withdrawals symptoms, often opioid withdrawals.

Symptoms include, but are not limited to, trembling, irritability, feeding problems, and seizures.

"It's kind of pitiful, said Lisa Newsome, a neonatal nurse of more than 30 years.

"If [people] could see a baby that was truly addicted and the physical symptoms that baby goes through, and the suffering that that baby goes through, I think maybe people would think twice about it," she added.

Experts believe the stillness and darkness of "the quiet room" minimizes distractions, allowing the newborn to focus on tasks such as feeding and sleeping.

According to The National Institute on Drug Abuse, in the United States, there's at least one baby born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) every 25 minutes.

Novant's Neonatal Medical Director Dr. Larry Brady also noted a significant increase in newborns suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

"A decade ago, we might've seen 10 babies a year," he said,

Last year, Novant hospital officials said staff treated at least 27 newborns at its four properties combined.  In 2016, they treated 30 babies.

Dr. Brady believes the statistics may not accurately reflect the number of children suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

"We try to screen and catch almost all the babies, but I feel certain that some babies go home before the symptoms occur," he said.

Dr. Brady added not all withdrawal cases involve addiction. Nearly half the cases he's treated come from legal opioid use by the child's mother.

"It doesn't really lessen the impact on the baby," he said.

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