Feeding and oral glucose--additive effects on pain reduction in newborns

The aims of this study were to compare the pain reducing effect of oral glucose with that of being breast-fed shortly before venipuncture in newborns, and also the pain score and crying time with parents' assessment.

Randomised, controlled trial.

120 full term newborns undergoing venipuncture randomly assigned to on of four groups: I, Breast-fed and 1-ml placebo; II, Breast-fed and 1-ml 30% glucose; III, Fasting and 1-ml placebo; and IV, Fasting and 1-ml 30% glucose.

Pain during venipuncture was measured with the Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP). Crying time was recorded. The parents assessed their babies' pain on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).

The PIPP score was significantly lower in the infants receiving glucose, than in those not given glucose (p=0.004). There was no significant difference in PIPP score between the infants who were fed and the fasting infants. The PIPP score was lower in group II (median 7) than in group I (md 10). There was a similar difference between group IV (md 9) and group III (md 11). The median crying times during the first 3 min in groups I, II, III, and IV were 63, 18, 142 and 93 s, respectively. There was low agreement between the parents' assessment of pain and the PIPP score and crying time.

Breast-feeding shortly before venipuncture has no major impact on the pain score but on crying time. The combination of oral glucose and breast-feeding shows the lowest pain score and significantly shorter duration of crying.