Olfactive Stimulation Interventions With Mothers' Milk on Preterm Pain Response

Repeated and untreated pain can lead to long-term consequences in preterm infants, such as pain hypersensitivity and impaired motor and intellectual development. Studies on the pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for pain management in preterm infants are limited. Thus, we investigated an intervention based on olfactive stimulation with mothers' milk. The aims of this study are: a) Evaluate the effectiveness of an olfactive stimulation intervention with mothers' milk odor on preterm procedural pain; b) Evaluate the effectiveness of adding a period of familiarization previous to the olfactive stimulation intervention with mothers' milk odor on preterm procedural pain. Preterm infants will be recruited and randomly assigned to three groups 1) mothers' milk odor during the nine hours before and during heel-prick, 2) mothers' milk odor during heel-prick, 3) standard care. Pain will be measured using a scale of pain adapted for preterm infants. This procedure with mothers'milk odor is inexpensive and easily performed.This study will significantly contribute to the advancement of knowledge on preterm infants pain management.