Obstetrical medication and the human newborn: the influence of alphaprodine hydrochloride on visual behaviour.

The visual habituation of two groups of newborn infants was tested at a mean age of 2.9 days with large achromatic squares of varying luminance. Mothers of the infants in one group received no medication during labour; mothers in the second group received a single dose of the synthetic narcotic alphaprodine hydrochloride. The two groups did not differ in the number of trials to reach the criterion, but newborns in the no-medication group fixated the stimuli for much longer periods than did infants in the alphaprodine group. First-fixation times of babies in the alphaprodine group were shorter when drug-to-delivery intervals were longer. These results, although tentative, imply that babies of medicated and unmedicated mothers differ in the manner in which they respond to visual stimuli.

Sinusoidal fetal heart rate pattern associated with alphaprodine administration.

Sinusoidal fetal heart rate patterns were observed in 42.5% of a group of 40 women who had received alphaprodine (Nisentil) for relief of labor pain. Analysis showed that the pattern appeared approximately 19 minutes following alphaprodine administration and persisted for approximately 60 minutes. In a control group of 18 patients who did not receive narcotic analgesia, and intermittent sinusoidal pattern was observed in one patient. All babies with sinusoidal heart rate during labor had 1-minute Apgar scores of 7 or greater except two in the study group. Both these neonates had low Apgar scores directly associated with complications at delivery. All 5-minute Apgar scores were 7 or greater, and there were no perinatal deaths.