Subutex while pregnant
I have been on Suboxone/subutex since I got clean from heroin/fent in November of 2020. I found out I was pregnant in April 2025 and my sub dr switched me from Suboxone to Subutex but kept me at the same dosage (~12 mg/day). My OB already knew I was on Suboxone before I got pregnant but her knowledge was somewhat limited on how it would affect my baby after delivery, and how it would affect my pain management, and my sub dr couldn’t tell me either. (Crazy how doctors don’t know these things when they’re the ones prescribing you the meds, but anyways…) Basically the only answer I got was “maybe your baby will have withdrawals but maybe not” or “your baby might have to go to the NICU but maybe not”…. I was constantly worried about it, so I searched through Reddit to try to figure out what I could expect. I could only find posts from 1-5 years ago and I just wanted to be more prepared, so I promised myself I would post about my experience to hopefully help any other soon-to-be mama’s in my same situation.
I went into labor really late on December 29, 2025 (only 5 days before my due date), got my epidural around 3 AM on December 30th—epidural worked perfect and I didn’t feel a thing—and my baby was born shortly after. He was totally healthy, weighing 7lbs 8oz. I had some severe tearing internally which required a lot of sutures (my baby came really fast; not related in any way to my subutex) so I did take the pain medication for the first few days (oxycodone 10 mg and toradol) as well as my regular dose of subutex (12 mg) as my OB recommended and I didn’t experience too severe of pain. Obviously it wasn’t a walk in the park, but it was manageable. Since my OB was aware of my medications, CPS/DHR was not contacted, but the hospital required my baby to stay for 5 days after birth so they could monitor for withdrawals. They “discharged” me 2 days after I gave birth, but they let me and my husband stay in a hospital room with our baby for the remaining 3 days so I could nurse him and take care of him. The nurses would come in every 3ish hours to “score” on baby’s withdrawals and I’m SO grateful to say that my baby had minimal withdrawal symptoms, and we were discharged on the 5th day and back home with our baby! The symptoms he experienced were extremely mild, like he was a little “tight/stiff” (clenching his fists and arms to his body), a little bit fussy (we did lots of skin-to-skin with me/dad and I nursed a lot to help with this), and his bm’s were a little runny for the first week or so.
Now my baby is 4.5 months and he’s such a happy and healthy boy! I am still breastfeeding him and I plan to continue until he’s around 1 year old, slowly weaning 1 feeding at a time as he starts solids in a few months.
I know how much guilt I had over being on MAT when I found out I was pregnant, but I also know how much it saved my life when I first got clean. I also know that once you’re pregnant, it’s very dangerous for your baby to stop or even wean off subs.
I do want to eventually get off subs, but obviously I’ll have to start that process once I’m done breastfeeding (a story for another post one day lol 😅).
I really hope this helps someone, and please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions!