Heartbreaking video shows what happens to babies born addicted to drugs

AdClorissa sorted her life out while she was pregnant with Braxton — but her first child was taken away. Picture: Reuters

Six-month-old Braxton Jones shakes uncontrollably after being born dependant on methadone — the drug mum Clorissa was using to ween herself off heroin.

The tot has been forced to overcome withdrawal symptoms such as tremors and oversensitivity, and still has trouble feeding.

He is one of more than 130,000 children born hooked on drugs in the US in the past decade.

Clorissa has now been enrolled in a hospital program for mums battling addiction in Baltimore, Maryland.

She said: “I know Braxton saved my life in the fact that I was able to stay clean through my whole pregnancy and I’m still clean right now.

“It’s him I look forward to every day.”

Clorissa’s first son Jacoby was born dependent on heroin, and even after taking him home she continued using — even taking the lad with her to buy drugs. She lost custody of Jacoby before discovering she was pregnant with Braxton.

Clorissa said: “I was in labour, in the bathroom shooting heroin about to give birth to my child.

“Nothing matters except for getting high. When I’m getting high, nothing matters, I’m very selfish, I’m self-centred.”

Health experts have warned that an epidemic of heroin and opioid addiction is sweeping across America — with children its most vulnerable victims.

Many babies diagnosed with a drug dependency — Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome — go unreported, but the condition can cause them to shake, struggle to eat and often sputter and choke during feedings.

They can also suffer sneezing fits, severe diarrhoea and the smallest stimuli can make them cry — including their own mother’s smile.

In the US, hospitals must notify social services when babies are born dependent on drugs.

But a Reuters investigation found 110 examples since 2010 of infant deaths that could have been prevented after babies and mothers were released from hospital.

In 2013, 27,000 babies were born dependent on drugs in the US, more than five.

Lauren Jansson, of the Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, treated Braxton.

She said: “If you don’t provide these services to pregnant women at a time when they need it, they won’t get access and what will happen is you’ll have unfortunate women that don’t ever access substance abuse treatment.

“They deliver infants that are removed from their custody, they wind up with significant health problems because they’re continuing to use. Those are the horror stories, that costs much more down the line than providing this care during pregnancy that’s comprehensive and addresses all the needs of the mother, her pregnancy and then the infant after birth.”