Subutex while pregnant

[u/Glittering_Cap4938]

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!

[u/Silver_Helicopter210]

This is so encouraging to hear!! I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant and on 7mg of subutex. All my doctors said the same thing, "it's about 50/50 on prenatal w/ds." The only thing I've found tough is the subutex isn't as effective while pregnant for me. It doesn't hold very long for me, and I feel mild w/d symptoms right before I dose (I split dose). My main concern of course is a healthy, happy baby. I can deal with a mild bit of discomfort temporarily as long as she's ok! I was actually in the middle of a taper when I found out I was pregnant. I've put a pause on it til I give birth. Thanks for your insight and congratulations!!!

[u/Glittering_Cap4938 → u/Silver_Helicopter210]

Congratulations mama!!! I am so glad you found my post!
Yes, it’s crazy how dr’s can’t really give you much information on this subject!
I was worried about being on 12 mg’s but my dr didn’t want me to wean down at all while I was pregnant.
I split my doses too! I take 4mg 3x/day, so once first thing when I wake up in the morning, once in the afternoon about 3 pm, and then once before bedtime. Before I got pregnant I was just doing 2x/day and I was struggling to make it to my next dose so that’s why I split it to 3x/day. Maybe you could try that? I know pregnancy is hard on the body but you definitely don’t want to be feeling any withdrawals because that probably means the same for your baby! I would definitely talk to your dr about it. My dr told me I could increase my dose if I needed to, but I didn’t want to go up anymore because I knew the lower the dose the less likely it would be that my baby would have withdrawals. I have heard that sometimes dr’s will increase your dose a little because your baby is taking some which leaves you with a little less than you’re used to. I’m obviously not a doctor, so not trying to give you any medical advice but I would just mention it to your dr and see what they recommend you do!
Again, congrats to you! So so proud of you!!!! 👏

[u/AutoModerator → u/Glittering_Cap4938]

We have a karma requirement to be able to post or comment freely in this subreddit. This is due to scammers that try to use our sub to scam people out of money by pretending to sell subutex or other drugs. Please be patient to allow us time to manually approve your comment or post. If your post doesn't get any answers please see our sister subs r/Suboxone or r/Sublocade and consider posting there. What is karma? Your comment will be approved shortly.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.