I Do Love My Baby: Stories of Mothers with Addiction and Recovery

“I Do Love My Baby: Stories of Mothers with Addiction and Recovery” is a collection of original stories told to the authors by pregnant or parenting mothers directly affected by substance use. The book was developed to be read by any individual to promote a new understanding of what has become an international epidemic of substance use from the experiences of mothers. The mothers who told their stories represent grandmothers, pregnant women, mothers of infants, mothers of older children and one kinship foster mother. Kinship is when a child is placed with a relative of the mother to be a foster parent.The initiation of substance use varied from prescribed substances that eventually became misused, to experimentation with substances. The common thread of the stories was concern for their infants and children that consistently acted as a motivator for the women’s recovery. The details of the experiences of mothers with addiction underscore opportunities for society and social service systems to re-evaluate approaches to all persons with substance use disorders to prevent the stigma and judgement that is depicted in the stories.The stories demonstrate examples of family history of substance misuse. Past and present trauma is a common occurrence in the stories, with the mothers identifying substance use as part of the way they coped with prior tragedy.Consistently in the stories, when positive social supports were present, the mothers were more likely to be seeking or participating in recovery. The theme of positive social support is contrary to a common notion that a person needs to “hit rock bottom” to seek recovery or that “tough love” is required to encourage recovery.At the end of each chapter is a list of reflection questions that are based on the story themes. The opportunity to reflect on the story themes is offered to assist the reader to consider how their personal views may evolve. The reader will also be able to reflect on societal approaches to families affected by substance use disorder and identify areas that need further development. During reflection, discovery of ways to advocate for the mothers and families may become known to the reader. Advocacy may include encouraging others to read this book to change attitudes, beliefs and knowledge that are based on stigma and judgement.The majority of the proceeds of the book are being donated to support research in areas that affect pregnant or parenting mothers with substance use disorder or their infants and children.