Non-pharmacological Analgesia During Heel Prick

Objective To investigate the analgesic effect (measured with NIPS) of breastfeeding in addition to skin-to-skin contact versus other methods of non-pharmacological analgesia during blood sampling through heel lance in healthy term neonates. The influences of non-pharmacological methods on crying time, percentage of crying while sampling, heart rate, number of attempts and duration of sampling were studied. Methods Randomised controlled trial performed on 136 healthy term newborns in the maternity ward of a tertiary hospital. The inclusion criteria were: healthy term neonates, wish to breastfeed and absence of feeding during the previous 60 minutes. Neonates were randomly assigned to four groups: group 1, breastfed with skin-to-skin contact ; group 2, oral sucrose with skin-to-skin contact ; group 3, skin-to-skin contact ; or group 4, receiving oral sucrose Data for the primary objective was analysed per intention to treat. This study was approved by local ethical committee.