The purpose of this thesis is to depict the medical care for a newborn whose mother had continued using substances during the pregnancy. The goal of the study was to increase our knowledge on recognizing and treating the infant’s withdrawal symptoms through a literaryanalysis. As a result of the study we gained evidence-based information on the medical carefor the infant that can be further utilized in SAMK’s Family nursing study module.

The primary sources used in the literary analysis were Finnish databases such as Samk Finna, Medic, Arto, Thesues, and Finna.fi. Additional material was collected from various online publications and finnish Current care guidelines. Furthermore, non-Finnish databases such as Cinahl and Pubmed were also examined, but no other beneficial material was found. Eight different sources were used in total. The analysis was conducted as a content analysis.

On the basis of this literary analysis it can be stated that the use of substances during a pregnancy does affect the fetus, the infant and the child in it is later life, causing a variety of risks, symptoms, and illnesses. The recognition of the withdrawal symptoms requires constant monitoring and evaluation. The treatment of these symptoms can be divided into medicinal and non-pharmacological.

The most notable challenge in conducting this thesis was finding the appropriate sourcematerials, as well as the analysis of the different studies.