Sucrose as analgesia for neonates experiencing "mild" pain

Health care professionals who care for neonates have few treatment options for the management of mild, sporadic painful events, such as those associated with venipuncture. A number of research studies have demonstrated sucrose to be an efficacious analgesic for mild procedural pain in neonates. The historical therapy of the "sugar nipple" has even been replaced with sucrose. A discussion of the pharmacologic principles, available research regarding dose-response relationships and implications for nursing care is presented in this article to allow the reader to consider how this adjunctive therapy may be incorporated into care of the neonate. Rather than considering sucrose as a replacement for traditional analgesics, this easily administered and seemingly safe intervention could be used as another adjunctive therapy in treating mild pain for neonates. Future directions of research may identify the precise mechanism of action that sucrose takes in the neonate, the gestational and chronological ages when sucrose is most efficacious, and the consequences of frequent or repeated dosing with term and low birth weight infants.