Abstract
Background: Infants may also experience pain during procedures like simple physical examination, bladder catheterization, phlebotomy, intravenous line placement, central venous line, chest tube placement and circumcision. Data on managing pain in infants in low and middle-income countries is scarce. In view of the high incidence of procedural pain and less available data, the current study was taken up to check for better management options. Our objective is to compare the efficacy of oral sucrose versus breastmilk in reducing procedural pain among infants.
Materials and Methods: This interventional comparative study was done at a tertiary care centre among 200 infants who underwent certain minor procedures in the department of paediatrics at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, from December 2021 to may 2022. Infants with perinatal asphyxia, congenital malformations, neurological problems and who need repeated pricks for blood collection were excluded. 100 infants belonged to the breastmilk group and 100 infants belonged to the oral sucrose group. Age, gender, level of pain etc were assessed and compared between both groups.
Results: There is no significant difference in the mean age of infants in both groups. There is no significant difference in the type of painful procedure, and duration of procedure between both groups. There is a significant reduction in pain in the sucrose group compared to the breastmilk group. Duration of crying is significantly more in the breastmilk group. There were no side effects seen in both groups.
Conclusion: Oral sucrose provided effective pain relief among infants who underwent minor procedures. We recommend using oral sucrose for all infants 10 min before the scheduled painful procedure.
Keywords: Breast milk, Oral sucrose, Procedural pain, Infants, Non-pharmacological interventions.
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Corresponding Author
Dr Pooja Mishra
Senior Resident, Department of Paediatrics, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) Patna
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v11i2.27
