13 Giovanna Casella; Maria Pia De Carolis; and  Michelangela Danza
Channel: Virtual Midwives
Date: 13/06/2020

Breastfeeding: Non-pharmacological analgesia for reducing procedural pain in healthy full-term infants  
Facilitator: Elisa Segoni 

All infants, even healthy full-terms, undergo routine diagnostic and therapeutic painful procedures as part of routine medical care and non-pharmacologic measures should be adopted to reduce the pain sensation. We have studied in 61 healthy full-term neonates the different analgesic effect of three non-pharmacologic interventions [Breastfeeding combined with Skin-to-Skin Contact (BF+SSC), Oral Glucose 10% (OG) and Maternal Holding plus Swaddling (MH+SW)] during heel prick for metabolic screening, evaluating both NIPS score and physiological parameters variations [Heart Rate (HR) and Oxygen Saturation (SpO2) by pulse oxymeter]. Our clinical and physiological data suggest that the combination of maternal-infant relationship with oral stimulation provides the deepest analgesia. BF is based on the unique primary relationship between the mother and her newborn and it provides a natural multisensorial stimulation, so it is possible to suppose that BF+SSC should be considered the optimal non-pharmacologic measure to manage the procedural pain in healthy full-term infants.