Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Program

The Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) Program at Nebraska Medicine is specially designed to help children overcome the serious health effects of infants who have been exposed prenatally to drugs in-utero and go through a withdrawal process after birth. 

NAS has become a national epidemic and the rate of NAS has nearly tripled from 1.2 per 1000 births to 3.39 per 1000 births from 2000-2009 and continues to worsen. It is estimated that 3-50 percent of newborn babies have been exposed to maternal drug use,depending on the population and area of the country. NAS infants are 19% more likely than other infants to have low birth weight and 30% more likely to have respiratory complications. It also increases the risk of the infant being premature, having feeding difficulties, and seizures.

Upon admission to the NICU, the infants at risk for NAS are carefully monitored by a highly skilled team for signs consistent with withdrawal. All neonatal nurse practitioners and staff nurses have been educated utilizing an inter-observer reliability program to ensure accuracy of the assessment and scoring of the infants. Based on the results of ongoing assessments and the scores on a diagnostic tool called Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence Scoring Tool (FNAST), each patient’s care is specialized to their specific needs. This scoring system gives points for each NAS symptom depending on how severe it is and the score is used to decide what kind of treatment your baby needs. While in the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Program, the NICU staff provides advanced practices and expert care to achieve the greatest outcomes.


In order to ensure all patients are able to grow and develop appropriately, the NICU at Nebraska Medicine creates a nurturing environment by implementing positive sensory inputs such as:

  • Dark, quiet environment
  • Swaddling
  • Skin-to-skin care (also known as kangaroo care)
  • Swaying and rocking
  • Pacifier use
  • Breastfeeding (can help lessen or delay withdrawal symptoms)
  • Therapeutic touch and handling
  • Occupational and physical therapy


NAS can be treated with both non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatments. Infants with severe NAS may need to take medications to help relieve the withdrawal symptoms. Once the symptoms are under control, the doses get smaller and spaced out further apart until discontinued. This can take days even weeks. 

In preparation for discharge, parents and caregivers are given training on any aspects of care needed including feeding, medications, follow-up needs, and more.

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