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A sugar-coated pacifier reduces procedural pain in newborns
1California State University, Fullerton Department of Nursing, Lake Forest, CA, USA.
Purpose:
To examine the efficacy of pacifiers and sugar, alone and in combination, for pain management in neonates.
Methods:
An experimental design examined pain responses of 84 newborns undergoing heelstick. They were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (a) water-moistened pacifier, (b) sugar-coated pacifier, (c) 2 cc of a 12% oral sucrose solution, or (d) control. Pain measures were duration of cry, vagal tone, and salivary cortisol.
Results:
Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that the sugar-coated pacifier group cried significantly less than the water-moistened pacifier and control groups. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the sugar-coated pacifier group demonstrated significantly lower vagal tone during heelstick than the oral sucrose solution and control groups. This difference between the sugar-coated pacifier and control groups persevered for 15 minutes after heelstick.
Conclusions:
Offering a sugar coated pacifier during heelstick in healthy neonates reduces pain behaviors more effectively than a water-moistened pacifier, 2 cc of a 12% sucrose solution, or no intervention.