Symptoms of a Crack Baby? Please Help.?

Question by Ema Qu: Symptoms of a crack baby? Please help.?
I’m watching a 9 month old, ive had her since she was 7 months. I noticed she is very different than baby who is the same age..I have a hard time getting attached to her and while my mom was over she suggested she seems like a crack baby. I’m wondering what the symptoms are? When she starts to cry its like the worst cry EVERY it sounds like she just was beaten or something, you can NOT cuddle with her, she just started to crawl at 9 months, she has little muscle tone, her legs can do complete splits, and she doesn’t really bare weight on her legs, she also yells ALL the time, just short like “uuhhh” and clinches her fists….I’ve been thinking something is wrong with her and i’m just wondering what the symptoms of crack babies are..

Best answer:

Answer by Lee Lee Holmes
Some common symptoms of cocaine babies are hyperactivity, poor feeding, rapid heart rate, excessive sudden movements and poor sleep patterns. Other typical traits are a low birth weight, low Apgar score and smaller than normal head circumference.

Answer by eric c
actual crack babies have tons of problems, the most noticeable are the physical symptoms which are DRAMATIC. basically if you dont have to worry about the child dying ever minute of everyday for the first year of its life…. its not a crack baby. The list of problems are hugggeeee and longgg and bad. sounds like you have a grumpy baby, like most of them, if your really worried take it to a doctor. It is always better to be on the safe side

“Crack baby” is a term for a child born to a mother who used crack cocaine during her pregnancy. There remains some dispute as to whether cocaine use during pregnancy poses a threat to the fetus. One complicating factor is the smoking of cigarettes, because almost all crack users also smoke cigarettes.[17] The official opinion of the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the United States warns about health risks while cautioning against stereotyping:

Many recall that “crack babies,” or babies born to mothers who used crack cocaine while pregnant, were at one time written off by many as a lost generation. They were predicted to suffer from severe, irreversible damage, including reduced intelligence and social skills. It was later found that this was a gross exaggeration. However, the fact that most of these children appear normal should not be overinterpreted as indicating that there is no cause for concern. Using sophisticated technologies, scientists are now finding that exposure to cocaine during fetal development may lead to subtle, yet significant, later deficits in some children, including deficits in some aspects of cognitive performance, information-processing, and attention to tasks—abilities that are important for success in school.[18]

Some people previously believed that crack cocaine caused infant death as SIDS, but when investigators began looking at the incidence of SIDS in the children of women who used crack cocaine, they found it to be no higher than in children of women who smoked cigarettes.[17]

There are also warnings about the threat of breastfeeding: “It is likely that cocaine will reach the baby through breast milk.” The March of Dimes advises the following regarding cocaine use during pregnancy:

Cocaine use during pregnancy can affect a pregnant woman and her unborn baby in many ways. During the early months of pregnancy, it may increase the risk of miscarriage. Later in pregnancy, it can trigger preterm labor (labor that occurs before 37 weeks of pregnancy) or cause the baby to grow poorly. As a result, cocaine-exposed babies are more likely than unexposed babies to be born with low birthweight (less than 5.5 lb/2.5 kg). Low-birthweight babies are 20 times more likely to die in their first month of life than normal-weight babies, and face an increased risk of lifelong disabilities such as mental retardation and cerebral palsy. Cocaine-exposed babies also tend to have smaller heads, which generally reflect smaller brains. Some studies suggest that cocaine-exposed babies are at increased risk of birth defects, including urinary-tract defects and, possibly, heart defects. Cocaine also may cause an unborn baby to have a stroke, irreversible brain damage, or a heart attack.[19]

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