There is quite a leap from a heel stick to a circumcision, both in the
sensitivity of the area affected and the extent of the painful stimulus.  If
I were the parents I would be wanting to know why the hospital wasn't
planning to give my son a local anesthetic (if I had an infant son who was
to be circumcised, which I don't).

I would at least demand that they show me convincing evidence that sugar
water did the trick for the pain of a circumcision.  What do the
anesthesiologists at this hospital say?  I am only aware of studies showing
that sugar water is effective for heel sticks and venipuncture, not for
surgery.

I routinely recommend mothers breastfeed for heel sticks and rarely hear
babies crying from them anymore.  If the baby is not breastfed, being held
and fed from a bottle seems to have about the same analgesic effect.  (I
hardly ever see non-breastfed babies so my sample size is very small.)

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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