The number of Maine newborns reported to be affected by drugs rose 17 percent in 2014, from 835 to 977.

Those reports have risen by about 624 percent, from 135 to 977, over the past 10 years.

Because doctors and other health care providers report differently — one may report to the state while a woman is pregnant, another may not report at all because the mother was already in recovery — it’s unclear how many children in Maine are actually born exposed to drugs.

However, “the numbers suggest that we’re seeing more,” said Jim Martin, director of the Office of Child and Family Services. 

When talking about infants, experts say they are “exposed to,” “affected by” or “dependent on” rather than “addicted to” drugs. That’s because addiction includes drug-seeking behavior, and infants don’t drug-seek like addicts.

Maine has seen reports of drug-exposed infants rise steadily since at least 2005. Some years have seen more than a 30 percent increase.

Not every hospital has seen an increase in the past year. Although no firm numbers were available at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit medical director and chief of pediatrics said he believed his hospital is not seeing as many.

“Our 2013 numbers were down a little bit,” Mark Brown said. “Previously, our graph was big steps every year. ” 

He estimated that about 10 percent of those mothers took illicit drugs, while 15 percent took prescription drugs and 75 percent took drugs such as Subutex or methadone, which are given to help addicts get through the dependency and cravings that come with opiate addiction.

Experts say women should not quit taking opiates or try to wean themselves off the drugs while pregnant. Without medication such as methadone or Subutex to take the place of opiates, they say, women are at high risk of delivering early, which can cause long-term health problems for the baby. They are also at risk of miscarrying.

Withdrawal can have devastating short-term and potentially harmful long-term effects on babies. Although newborns can go through withdrawal when their mothers take methadone or Subutex, that withdrawal is supposed to be more mild than with street drugs or prescription opiates.

Newborns can spend weeks in hospitals being treated for withdrawal. EMMC, in partnership with Penobscot Community Health Care, is trying a program that sends babies home sooner and allows them to get treatment as outpatients, promoting — it’s hoped — better bonding and parenting. 

“If you’re doing it in an outpatient setting, the whole treatment thing takes a back seat to supporting the mother and her baby and empowering that mom to be the best mother that she can be at home with a lot of supports,” Brown said.

“It gives us a lot better baby in the long run, at least that’s my bias right now,” he said. “When I see a baby who’s four weeks old or six weeks old, a happy baby, looking good, mom’s happy, she’s interacting with the baby, (it’s) very different than seeing the babies in the hospital.”

The state is looking at a project of its own. It’s working on a potential program that would offer substance abuse treatment and parent education at the same time.

“That doesn’t necessarily address while the mother is pregnant,” Martin said. “However, it does address, once the baby is born, how substance abuse affects your child and how it affects your ability to effectively parent.”

The state is also looking at the current reporting law and whether it could be clarified so health care providers have a better understanding of when they should report.

“We’re exploring what the right law is,” Martin said.  

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Number of reports of Maine newborns affected by drugs:

2005: 135

2006: 178

2007: 234

2008: 295

2009: 394

2010: 526

2011: 627

2012: 710

2013: 835

2014: 977