Maternal responsivity and oxytocin in opioid‐dependent mothers

Abstract

Although prenatal opioid exposure and postnatal withdrawal (neonatal abstinence syndrome) are associated with infant neurobehavioral deficits, little is known about the impact of continued maternal opioid treatment in the postnatal period on maternal responsivity and relationship to mother's oxytocin release during dyadic interactions in the Still Face paradigm. Mother and infant dyads (N = 14) were recruited and comprised of mothers on opioid replacement throughout pregnancy and postpartum (opioid‐exposed group, n = 7) and a demographically controlled, non‐exposed group (n = 7). Salivary oxytocin was collected following 10 min of infant separation before and immediately after a 6‐min Still Face paradigm. Oxytocin measures correlated strongly with sensitive and prosocial maternal behaviors in response to infant initiation. Opioid‐exposed compared to non‐exposed mothers had significantly lower pre‐test to post‐test rise in salivary oxytocin concentration level as well as fewer sensitive behaviors during the reunion condition of the Still Face paradigm. Maternal opioid dependence during early infancy may impair maternal responsivity and sensitivity through suppression of the oxytocin reflex to infant stimulation.

Prenatal Substance Exposure

“…Substances such as cocaine and opioids may interfere with the onset of parenting behaviors and increase risk for low sensitivity during parent-child interactions via effects on hormones such as oxytocin (e.g., Daigle et al 2020). In addition, the reward-stress dysregulation model of parenting (Rutherford et al 2013) suggests that substance use reduces the salience and rewarding effects of parent-child interactions via reward-related neural processes, and there is growing evidence of prenatal substance exposure effects on alterations in maternal brain reward processes (Schuetze et al 2021).…”

Early emotional caregiving environment and associations with memory performance and hippocampal volume in adolescents with prenatal drug exposure

“…Mothers in treatment have described worsening depression and anxiety after delivery and its detrimental effects on their recovery and self-efficacy in caring for their children (Salo et al, 2009;Martin et al, 2022). Substance use may also impact how parents process and respond to infant cues, making caregiving more difficult (Rutherford et al, 2011(Rutherford et al, , 2013(Rutherford et al, , 2020Parolin and Simonelli, 2016;Kohl et al, 2017;Daigle et al, 2020;Lowell et al, 2022). In addition, infants with histories of PDE may be particularly challenging to care for, with high-pitched, piercing cries, feeding difficulties, and slow, negative responses to stimuli (Coles and Platzman, 1993;Conradt et al, 2019).…”