PROVO — A small child lies in a hospital bed, shaking with stomach cramps and shrieking in a high-pitched cry.

The baby is coming down off a heroin addiction — a gift from his mother, who was shooting up during the pregnancy.

The baby will deal with withdrawal symptoms just as an adult would, says Dr. Ronald A. Stoddard, medical director of the newborn intensive care nursery at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. He'll also feel the effects of a drug addiction probably for his entire life.

But at first there is diarrhea, vomiting, seizures, tremors and problems sleeping — all before the child is even a week old.

"The baby is addicted to the drug as soon as it's born," Stoddard said. "(If it's) no longer receiving drugs from the mother, it's going through withdrawal. The baby has become addicted to the drug — just like the mother."

Last month, Provo police arrested a man who was visiting his girlfriend at the UVRMC. The two were found trying to use heroin in the bathroom of their hospital room.

The woman had just given birth, and her baby later tested positive for heroin. The child has since been released, although hospital personnel couldn't comment on any specifics.

The number of drug-dependent infants born at the UVRMC continues to increase each year, Stoddard said, indicative of the much larger drug problem.

"As sad as these mothers are seeing these babies going through withdrawals, they're still using the drugs (because) they're so addicted and dependent on it. The best way to combat it is to fight the drug problem that we have in our society."

Instead of seeing one or two cases of baby drug dependency a year, Stoddard said he now sees about one or two cases a month.

LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City also has a growing population of babies born with a chemical dependence.

An average of 36 babies are in the unit at any one time, and three to five of those are going through the detox process, said Eve Thorup, nurse manager of the newborn intensive care unit at LDS Hospital.

"(Detox) can be a very prolonged process for these babies," Thorup said. "It's hard on my staff. They're very difficult babies to take care of. They kind of wear you out."

When a mother uses drugs, the baby gets a smaller dose than the mother would, but the substance still winds its way through the blood stream into the developing body.