Substance use recovery for pregnant and postpartum women

A path to healthy beginnings for mothers in recovery

Pregnancy and parenting can be challenging for anyone. Women with a history of substance use are especially vulnerable as they adapt to this new stage of life. Pregnant and postpartum individuals in recovery are at risk for relapse, but your recovery journey can start with a single step.

What is STEPS?

If you’ve struggled with drug or alcohol addiction, we offer the support you need to stay on track during and after pregnancy. Our substance use recovery for pregnant and postpartum women program, also called STEPS, is part of Healthy Beginnings Plus at Women & Babies Hospital in Lancaster, PA.

STEPS empowers individuals with the tools and knowledge they need to have a healthy pregnancy and be the best parent they can be. Moms-to-be receive in-home visits from experienced nurses, social workers, and a community health worker with experience in pregnancy addiction recovery. This compassionate team continues to support you for up to one year after you give birth. We guide mothers in their pregnancy journey and substance use recovery.

Eat, sleep, console

Women enrolled in Healthy Beginnings Plus and STEPS deliver at Women & Babies Hospital. At the hospital, we use an evidence-based technique called Eat, Sleep, Console to watch and treat babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Neonatal abstinence syndrome can occur when a baby is exposed to substances in the womb during pregnancy. Infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome can experience withdrawal after birth.

Eat, Sleep, Console helps mothers soothe their babies naturally, reducing or eliminating the need for withdrawal medication or a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay. Mothers stay with their babies to breastfeed, provide skin-to-skin contact and enable sound sleep. Eat, Sleep, Console is a milder therapeutic alternative to NICU care. This approach has been shown to:

  • Improve breastfeeding rates
  • Lessen or eliminate the need for morphine to treat withdrawal symptoms
  • Provide a more family-centered approach to care
  • Reduce the length of hospital stays for newborns with NAS

Contact us

Call 717-544-4305 or text 717-669-2485 to learn more about STEPS.

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