Why should a pregnant woman be maintained on methadone instead of simply “detoxing”?
Methadone maintenance is recommended for pregnant women for three reasons: Methadone is less stressful on the baby than heroin. When a pregnant woman has a heroin “habit”, her fetus is dependent as well. Because heroin is a ‘short-acting opioid’, the fetus of a woman using it can go through the stress of withdrawal several times per day. This stress may have a negative impact on the health of the developing baby. Methadone maintenance, being much longer acting, provides the fetus with steady opioid levels. “Detox” is stressful to the fetus. Most heroin users who are “detoxed” soon relapse to street drug use. A relapse while pregnant is particularly dangerous because the commonly associated lack of prenatal care, nutritional status and risk of infectious disease.
