scores of exposed children averaged about 4 points lower at age 7 than those of unexposed children. The analysis failed to show a statistically significant effect on I.Q. Lester presented an analysis of a pool of studies of 14 groups of cocaine-exposed children 4,419 in all, ranging in age from 4 to 13. But as these children grow, brain and body size catch up.Īt a scientific conference in November, Dr. Brendan Smialowski for The New York TimesĬocaine slows fetal growth, and exposed infants tend to be born smaller than unexposed ones, with smaller heads. Belcher, a pediatrician, doing a checkup on Cornell Wright, a young patient. So far, these scientists say, the long-term effects of such exposure on children’s brain development and behavior appear relatively small.ĭr. Newspapers carried headlines like “Cocaine: A Vicious Assault on a Child,” “Crack’s Toll Among Babies: A Joyless View” and “Studies: Future Bleak for Crack Babies.”īut now researchers are systematically following children who were exposed to cocaine before birth, and their findings suggest that the encouraging stories of Ms. When the use of crack cocaine became a nationwide epidemic in the 1980s and ’90s, there were widespread fears that prenatal exposure to the drug would produce a generation of severely damaged children. “A drug addict,” she now says ruefully, “isn’t really concerned about the baby she’s carrying.” Yvette H., now 38, admits that she used cocaine (along with heroin and alcohol) while she was pregnant with each girl. There would be nothing remarkable about these two happy, normal girls if it were not for their mother’s history. They are a vibrant pair: the older girl is high-spirited but responsible, a solid student and a devoted helper at home her sister loves to read and watch cooking shows, and she recently scored well above average on citywide standardized tests. BALTIMORE One sister is 14 the other is 9.
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