ABSTRACT
Let us imagine a medical problem for which there is a new, effective treatment. This treatment reduces length of hospitalization, decreases medication use, and lowers health care costs by a large margin with no effect on adverse events. Such a treatment was developed for neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) specifically and the Eat, Sleep, Console (ESC) approach.1 The management of NOWS has changed at many birthing hospitals following multiple studies underscoring the effectiveness of the ESC approach.1 Focus has shifted away from pharmacologically treating withdrawal symptoms and instead centers on optimizing nonpharmacological support to ensure affected infants can perform their basic functions, namely eat, sleep, and be consoled. The positive impact of this shift has been profound—from the individual patient to the hospital system level—leading to reduced average length of hospital stay, decreased use of pharmacotherapy, and increased breastfeeding rates with no negative consequences on readmission rates, seizures,…