ABSTRACT
This chapter describes significant findings with regard to the neonatal abstinence syndrome as evaluated by the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale and by measures of sucking behavior. A Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale was developed by Brazelton with the recognition that routine pediatric neurological examination of the newborn is a poor predictor of later neurobehavioral performance. The experimental group consisted of 23 infants born to narcotic addicted mothers. The weight of the experimental infants correlated with sucking behavior as well as with the scores achieved by the infants on the Brazelton. Twenty-three infants born passively addicted to narcotics were studied on an instrument to measure infant sucking and on the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale. Brazelton irritability items distinguished between the expérimentais and controls (p <.001), but did not correlate with sucking measures. The chapter concludes with the findings that are unique to the passively addicted infant population and are a result of the neonatal narcotic withdrawal syndrome.
