How Late Into Pregnancy Is It Safe To Stop Taking Suboxone?
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I am almost 14 weeks pregnant. I want to stop taking my Suboxone completely, but have heard it can cause premature labor if stopped too far into pregnancy. My doctor also said that withdrawals can not cause miscarriage or hurt the unborn baby in any lasting ways. I have been taking 2mg of subutex (now Suboxone) for the past week. Am I okay to cease all Suboxone use, or should I wait another week or so?

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Re: big D (# 142)

Be aware the hospital may call on your daughter. It also depends on whether the county you live in is medication-maintenance friendly or not. Do more research. Ask lots of questions!

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When I had my baby in May 2016 I was also using Suboxone (not prescribed) to remain off of opiates. I had plans to quit 2 weeks before his due date in case of the initial drug test hospitals give upon admission in my area. However, he was born 2 weeks early at 38 weeks. The initial drug test which was a urine test did not test for suboxone I believe because they had no idea and I was too scared to tell anybody. After my son was born he was sent to a bigger hospital nearby with a NICU unit (our hospital is small with no NICU) for breathing problems. I wanted to speak up but I was so scared. They ended up testing his umbilical cord to find the suboxone in his system. We had the whole roundabout of social workers calling and visiting us. The s***ty treatment from nurses and doctors. The pressure to take another drug test myself and my husband. The threats to take my baby away. As soon as I started getting the calls from social services I immediately signed up for a nearby addiction treatment program. I was lucky enough in the sense that I have a cousin who works at our social services and the head of social services is a good friend of my moms so we signed a contract with them and got to keep our baby as long as we followed their little treatment plan. Which didn't have much on it anyways.

My son was in the NICU for 2 weeks. He had withdrawals of course and they weaned him with morphine. I feel really bad about it and although I was told by a social worker that it was better for me to use that then other drugs or even opiates. I still wish i had spoke up before I had my son. I was scared of the exact judgement that I received anyways. However, now I firmly believe if I had spoke up when I first found out I was pregnant and gotten on a program then I believe the experience would have been much better than being looked down at for using something you were not but could have been prescribed. I do know they put you on subutex usually for pregnancy. I just encourage anybody who is pregnant and using anything to reach out and either get on a suboxone program or some type of treatment program. It will be better for you and your baby in the long run. It is much better for doctors and nurses to know beforehand and I really wish i had done things differently. My son is a healthy 2 year old now. No issues besides a little respiratory when he gets sick sometimes he needs to use a nebulizer. Another note is many hospitals are starting to use umbilical cord testing because they dont have to have consent to collect it and it goes as far back as the beginning of your third trimester so about 2-3 months. I just wanted to share my story.

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Re: Escaroe (# 148)

Hey u found out I was pregnant and was on 24ng a day started weaning at 2 months in now 4 months and down to 1.5mg. I started off going to 8mg then to 4mg then to 2 mg now just 1.5mg then 1mg I'll b off in another week just listen to your body you'll feel some side effects but not to much.

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I was on 24 mg of suboxone a day and overt the last two months have got down to 1.5mg and soon to be off I know every one says it's dangerous but I'm doing ok and the baby is too, just wean according to your body I'm now 4 months pregnant and will be completely off in 2 weeks. Hope every thing turned out good for you.

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Re: DeeDee (# 58)

What was your taper schedule? I’m pregnant on suboxone just found out I’m two weeks. Taking 8mg down to 4 since found out.

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I was on a 28 day suboxone detox for opiate addiction. I started on 16mg for 1 week then started reducing following my reduce chart. I am now down to 2mg though it has took more than 28 days due to family problems. I have found out I'm 5 weeks pregnant & the past four days I have reduced myself more to halving my 2mg tablet. I have felt slight withdrawal but I also have a flu so I feel a lot of the feeling cold & cold shivers because I've got the flu. My addiction worker did make me aware that I should wait until after I'm 12 weeks pregnant but to do it before the last 12 weeks as it could cause problems with the baby. I feel fine, I can handle the how I'm feeling & most importantly I'm not craving opiates, more so to the fact I couldn't bring myself to do that knowing I'm pregnant.

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Re: Becca (# 86)

Can u tell me his this worked out for you I'm in the sake boat

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Re: New Mommy (# 143)

That is awesome! I’m so happy to hear that! I’ve been reading everything on the internet every night about suboxone because I’m scared about my baby having NAS. We’re u able to get an epidural? If so how good did it work?

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He’ll everyone (:

I am 21 weeks pregnant with my baby boy and I am currently taking 8mg suboxone a day as prescribed. today my ob told me that basically my son will be staying in the Nicu once he’s born. They don’t seem to know a lot about suboxone and forget or mistake a lot of other information as well. I’ve also done a lot of research about suboxone while pregnant and what my baby might go thru. My suboxone doctor told me it’s better if I stay on suboxone at the same dose which is 8mg a day the whole pregnancy. So question 1 is, is it safe to stop at 21 weeks? Because I definitely want to but I’ve also read it’s not a good idea and it scares me since I lost my first child 5 days after he was born in March 2014 for a different reason. This is my second child and I wanna do everything right and it also brings me to question 2. Should I switch my hospital choice for where I’m giving birth? I ask this bc the hospital scares me as they don’t seem to care and don’t pay attention. For example, they mistakenly told me I had a serious STI when I was there last time and then after I started crying and freaking out they checked again to show me and it said PENDING not positive! And I feel like they're gonna drug my baby up regardless if he shows NAS or not. Also, if anyone has any experience delivering while on suboxone I would love to hear about it! I would like to know if it’s possible to get an epidural? And if your baby went through any withdrawal?

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Finally, I can post my experience! I gave birth to a healthy baby boy 11/2. He was 2 weeks early (38 weeks exactly) and I had weaned myself to 1/32 of a 8mg suboxone film. I never told my doctor because I didn’t want anyone to know but my baby was born and they didn’t pick anything up on drug panels if they did any. I stopped immediately once he was born though, but I haven’t decided if I will start back on 1/32 because I am not having a lot of luck breastfeeding, and I have had to use formula. I would suggest getting off earlier so you don’t have to stop suddenly like I did but they also put me on Percocet because of the sutures so I just quit taking the boxes after I delivered. They said he was perfectly healthy and I don’t think he had any withdrawals because I was taking such a small dose. I hope this gives everyone some peace of mind, in my case 1/32 worked out and no DHS or questions were asked.

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Re: ReneeC1 (# 3)

My daughter has been taking a 8mg a day and she's due November 19th. Her doctor found out cause of her blood work. Does it go in the amniotic sac? We are scared the hospital will call on her?

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I'm 38 weeks pregnant and have been taking .5 Mgs of suboxone every day and I don't know what to do. I feel like it's way too late to say anything to my doctor. When I first found out i was pregnant, I was 7 weeks and I went to my doctor and asked if it was safe to just quit cold turkey (subs are not prescribed to me) and I quit... For 2 weeks. I selfishly couldn't handle the withdrawal so I started taking it again and I got down to .5 Mgs and that's what I've been taking. Now I'm embarrassed to say anything to my doctors. I never told them I got back on it. They think I'm off of it. I'm so scared my child is going to be taken from me. No one knows I'm taking this medication. I don't want him to withdrawal. i don't know what to do. I've been telling myself I'd quit and here I am less than 3 weeks away from delivering my baby

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Re: Sicksadgirl (# 16)

I know this post is old but I am in the exact situation you have just described. How did things end up. How was your baby and did she withdrawal I'm so terrified. Thanks

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Hi, i have a question if you dont mind me asking. Did cps or anyone test you or anything?

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My wife is eight months pregnant and is having withdrawals from subs and we are seeing a doctor at the high risk pregnancy center at ecu but she is reluctant to tell her doctor because she was discharged from the port services group due to insurance issues. What should we do?

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I have a 6 month old beautiful baby girl. I've been on suboxone for almost 10 years. 12 mg a day. As soon as I got pregnant I was switched to subutex. From 6mg down to 4mg. My daughter had to remain in the hospital an extra 6 days because of withdrawal symptoms. Thank God they didn't have to give her any meds for withdrawals. But it sucks to see your infant in withdrawal and I promise it will give u such a guilty conscience and it actually induced post pardum depression. When the baby is born they will call Dyfs even though you may be prescribed the meds they are still in the babies system and the baby went thru withdrawal. They actually interviewed me at the hospital a day after birth. They knew there was no neglect or abuse so they closed my case 30 days later. It's a lot to go thru and it's just better to be on the lowest dose possible.

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Yea they will test for it when you are about 14-18 weeks and it is a very hard talk to have with your doctor

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Thank you for the response Tommy C! I am just scared to do anything to make me miscarry, and there is just no information out there on the best time to quit that is safest for the baby. Would 6 weeks be to dangerous or the safest time, that is what scares me, doing the wrong thing. I think many doctors would rather us have the baby on the meds (at a low dose), than come off, but I think it is because they don't want to be responsible for us miscarrying. I wish I could hear more testimonials from women quitting suboxone during pregnancy. There were a lot of posts but not many follow ups to say what happened. I want to do what is safest and right now I think that is slowy working myself down from 1.5 to zero over the next 8 weeks. I will keep everyone posted on how I do it and what happens, if anyone else is going through this right now, please keep us posted too on how it is going! Good luck!

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I have seen successful Suboxone detox and withdrawal done both from taper and cold turkey. Best advice is to go cold turkey once you are down to 2 mg per day. I was on Suboxone for 5 years and tapered while another 5 year user in our group jumped at 8 mg per day. From the information gathered there was not much advantage if any by tapering. Actually tapering from 2 mg to 1/32 of a mg was 7 months of wasted time. Do your baby a favor and stop taking Suboxone immediately. The withdrawal is not severe but ongoing annoyance and malaise.

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I am in the same boat as everyone here. I am down to 1.5 mg of suboxone and I am currently 4 weeks pregnant, I want to get off the boxes ASAP but I don't know when the right time is, because I do not want to miscarry. It is sad that no one can give you a straight answer, even doctors don't know from what I gather, because there are no studies yet on how to taper from suboxone. I am thinking of weaning off slowly over the next 2 months, but I am scared to miscarry. I am not Rx'd the drug so I can't mention it to my doc and get kicked out for being "high risk". Any suggestions? I am scared of everything at this point, I do NOT want to lose my baby.

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