Non-pharmacological pain relief

The delivery of humane neonatal care demands that attention is given to interventions that reduce pain effectively. Painful procedures are common for neonatal patients and a growing body of research suggests that simple non-pharmacological methods are effective in reducing the signs of pain. Both oral sucrose and pacifiers reduce pain scores during procedures, and other simple measures, including facilitated tucking and skin-to-skin contact, might also be effective. Organising care to reduce exposure to painful procedures and also optimising the devices used for procedures might reduce the experience of pain. There is some evidence of long-term improvement in pain sensitivity following pain reduction programmes. Further research is needed to understand the detail of how and when to best apply these interventions; the long-term outcomes of policies that give routine prominence to pain reduction on the neonatal intensive care unit also need to be investigated. The absence of long-term effect should not impede the introduction of these simple, low-cost humane measures.