Controlling the Pain of Immunizations in Infants

Oral sucrose is effective.

Infants receive numerous painful immunizations during the first year of life. In a double-blind, randomized, clinical trial, 83 healthy infants (ages 2 and 4 months) received either 24% oral sucrose (0.6 mL/kg) or placebo 2 minutes before undergoing routine immunization with three vaccines: diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis/inactivated polio/hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type B, and pneumococcal conjugate.

The principle investigator assessed pain using an acute behavioral pain scale that measures five domains (crying, facial expression, behavior, body movement, and sleep) after each of the three injections and again 2 minutes after the last one. Compared with the placebo group, infants who received sucrose demonstrated significant…

Reviewing Author

Howard Bauchner, MD

Disclosures

Grant / research supportHuman Resources and Services Administration; NIH; NIH-NHLBI; USDA; GlaxoSmithKline

Editorial boardsArchives of Disease in Childhood (Editor-in-Chief)

Howard Bauchner, MD

Disclosures

Grant / research supportHuman Resources and Services Administration; NIH; NIH-NHLBI; USDA; GlaxoSmithKline

Editorial boardsArchives of Disease in Childhood (Editor-in-Chief)