Skin-to-skin Contact Is Analgesic - newborns

Skin-to-skin contact is analgesic in healthy newborns.

Pediatrics. 2000 Jan;105(1):e14.

Gray L, Watt L, Blass EM.

Department of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. lag@bu.edu

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.

Publication Types:
Clinical Trial
Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 10617751

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10617751&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_DocSum

A warm touch improves oxygenation in newborn babies.

Daga SR, Ahuja VK, Lunkad NG.

Neonatal Unit, Cama and Albless Hospital, Mumbai, India.

Oxygen saturation was studied in eight newborn babies, seven preterm and one term, with and without caressing by the mother while receiving gavage feeds. The babies were stable with regard to cardiorespiratory and neurological status. Four babies were still receiving head-box oxygen. The oxygen saturation levels were similar before feeds. However, the levels were significantly higher with caressing at 10, 20 and 30 min after the feed in babies not receiving oxygen and at 20 and 30 min after feeds in babies receiving oxygen.

PMID: 9680785

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9680785&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_DocSum