Source
Department of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. lag@bu.edu
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
To determine whether skin-to-skin contact between mothers and their newborns will reduce the pain experienced by the infant during heel lance.
DESIGN:
A prospective, randomized, controlled trial.
SETTING:
Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
PARTICIPANTS:
A total of 30 newborn infants were studied.
INTERVENTIONS:
Infants were assigned randomly to either being held by their mothers in whole body, skin-to-skin contact or to no intervention (swaddled in crib) during a standard heel lance procedure.
OUTCOME MEASURES:
The effectiveness of the intervention was determined by comparing crying, grimacing, and heart rate differences between contact and control infants during and after blood collection.
RESULTS:
Crying and grimacing were reduced by 82% and 65%, respectively, from control infant levels during the heel lance procedure. Heart rate also was reduced substantially by contact.
CONCLUSION:
Skin-to-skin contact is a remarkably potent intervention against the pain experienced during heel stick in newborns.