Pain Control in Newborn Infants

Studies have shown that skin-to-skin contact and oral dextrose are effective approaches to pain control in newborn infants. In a randomized clinical trial, 640 healthy full-term newborn infants in Brazil who were to receive an intramuscular injection of hepatitis B vaccine were randomly assigned to oral placebo alone, skin-to-skin contact with their mother plus oral placebo, skin-to-skin contact with their mother plus 25% oral dextrose solution, or 25% dextrose solution alone. Skin-to-skin contact was started 2 minutes before the injection and at the same time as dextrose was given.

Compared with oral placebo alone, skin-to-skin contact plus dextrose was associated with significantly reduced mean facial pain expression scores (7.2 vs. 6.2, on a 9-point scale with higher numbers indicating worse pain) at the time of injection. Skin-to-skin contact plus placebo and dextrose alone did not reduce pain scores compared with placebo. Two minutes after needle withdrawal, all treatments significantly reduced pain scores compared with placebo (mean score, 4.0), with skin-to-skin contact plus dextrose being the most effective (0.6), followed by skin-to-skin contact plus placebo (1.8) and dextrose alone (2.1). Another validated scale for pain assessment yielded roughly similar results.