Breastmilk as a Multisensory Intervention for Relieving Pain during Newborn Screening Procedures: A Randomized Control Trial

Hsiang-Yun Lan, Luke Yang, Chiao-Hsuan Lin, Kao-Hsian Hsieh, Yue-Cune Chang and Ti Yin
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Hsiang-Yun Lan: School of Nursing, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Luke Yang: Department of Social Work, Hsuan Chuang University, Hsinchu 30092, Taiwan
Chiao-Hsuan Lin: Nursing Department, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Kao-Hsian Hsieh: Department of Pediatrics, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Yue-Cune Chang: Department of Mathematics, Tamkang University, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
Ti Yin: School of Nursing, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-10

Abstract: The study aim was to explore the effects of multisensory breastmilk interventions on short-term pain of infants during newborn screening. This is a randomized controlled trial. A total of 120 newborns were recruited and assigned by randomization to one of three treatment conditions: Condition 1 = routine care (gentle touch + verbal comfort); Condition 2 = breastmilk odor + routine care; or Condition 3 = breastmilk odor + taste + routine care. Pain was scored with the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS). Data were collected from video recordings at 1 min intervals over the 11 phases of heel sticks: phase 1, 5 min before heel stick without stimuli (baseline); phase 2 to phase 6 (during heel stick); and phase 7 to phase 11 (recovery). Generalized estimating equations compared differences in pain scores for newborns over phases among the three conditions. Compared with the routine care, provision of the odor and taste of breastmilk reduce NIPS scores during heel sticks (B = −4.36, SE = 0.45, p < 0.001 [phase 6 ]), and during recovery (B = −3.29, SE = 0.42, p < 0.001 [phase 7 ]). Our findings provide new data, which supports the use of multisensory interventions that include breastmilk odor and taste in combination with gentle touch and verbal comfort to relieve pain in infants undergoing newborn screening.

Keywords: pain; breastmilk odor; breastmilk taste; newborn infant; heel stick (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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