For your reading pleasure - a little good news for a change!

Pamela Morrison IBCLC

Ambul Pediatr. 2005 Nov-Dec;5(6):359-64.Analgesic effects of breast-feeding 
or pacifier use with maternal holding in term infants. Phillips RM, Chantry 
CJ, Gallagher MP.

OBJECTIVES: First, to compare analgesic effects of breast-feeding versus 
pacifier use in newborn infants undergoing blood collection via heel 
sticks. Second, to compare analgesic effects of pacifier use with maternal 
holding versus nonmaternal holding. DESIGN: A prospective, randomized, 
controlled trial. SETTING: Normal newborn nursery at academic teaching 
hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Full-term breast-feeding infants scheduled for 
routine newborn screening blood test via heel stick (n = 96). 
Interventions.-Infants randomized to 3 groups for analgesia: 1) 
breast-feeding, 2) pacifier use while held by mothers, 3) pacifier use 
while held by research assistants (nonmothers). OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary 
outcome was crying (percent of infants who cried during the procedure and 
mean percent of procedure time that infants cried). Secondary outcomes were 
physiologic measures. RESULTS: Fewer breast-feeding infants cried than 
infants using a pacifier while held by nonmothers both during the procedure 
(69% vs 100%, P < .01) and after the procedure (28% vs 60%, P = .03). Those 
infants crying during the procedure cried for less time if held by their 
mothers either breast-feeding (33%, P < .01) or using a pacifier (45%, P = 
.03) than those using a pacifier while being held by nonmothers (66%). 
CONCLUSION: Breast-feeding is more analgesic than pacifier use with 
nonmaternal holding. Maternal holding with either breast-feeding or 
pacifier use is more analgesic than nonmaternal holding with pacifier use, 
suggesting that maternal holding itself has an analgesic effect. 
Breast-feeding and maternal holding should be considered as pain-control 
measures for the neonate during heel-stick procedures.

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