It's a trend reminiscent of the "crack baby" epidemic of the 1980s, and doctors say they are seeing more babies than ever before born addicted to prescription medications.
CNN reports that Florida health records show that 635 babies were born addicted to prescription drugs in the first half of 2010 alone.
That number is slightly less that than the 1000 babies born in 2009 who were treated for drug withdrawal syndrome, but Dr. Mary Newport told the St. Petersburg Times she's seeing more babies than ever with oddly stiff limbs, severe tremors, vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia, crying that never stops, symptoms that are all linked to their mothers taking prescription pills like OxyContin and Vicodin, and Xanax during pregnancy.
And Florida is not facing this problem alone, according to the CDC, prescription drugs now contribute to more unintentional overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. In fact, more than 27,000 people died from prescription overdoses in 2007 alone, that's five times the number of deaths since 1990 and has never been higher.
And from 2003 to 2008, nationwide almost 12,000 babies were diagnosed with newborn withdrawal syndrome reports NPR.
Health officials say the prescription drug epidemic is just too new to understand the long-term damage those born addicted face in the future says the St. Petersburg Times, but doctors they spoke to said "no matter what kind of addiction a mother suffers from, her children run a much greater risk of being neglected or abused if she can't stay clean and sober."