Clonidine Versus Phenobarbital as Adjunctive Therapy for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

Phenobarbital loading dose 20 mg/kg in 2 divided doses, then 5 mg/kg/day divided every 12 hours. Phenobarbital dose will be adjusted to obtain desired trough of 25 to 30 mcg/mL. Levels will be obtained on Day 6 then weekly thereafter. Phenobarbital will be tapered over 4 weeks upon discharge from the hospital. The standardized taper is based the patient specific dose at the time of discharge.

Clonidine 5 mcg/kg/day divided every 3 hours. Clonidine will be increased by 1.5 mcg/kg/day to achieve control of NAS symptoms based upon standardized scoring for neonatal abstinence syndrome. Clonidine will be weaned by 25% every 24 hours after successful discontinuation of oral morphine sulfate. Infants will not be discharged on clonidine.