Clinging to mothers helps babies bear pain

Clinging to mother's bare skin can help tiny preterm babies recover more quickly from the pain of being stuck with needles and other procedures. Skin-to-skin contact with their mother, referred to as kangaroo mother care (KMC), has been shown to be effective in reducing pain in three previous studies involving older babies. To determine if KMC would also be effective in preterm newborns, researchers in Canada studied 61 preterm babies born between 28 and 31 weeks. Such preterm babies spend many weeks in neonatal intensive care units and are often subjected to painful medical procedures. Parents and nurses alike find it very distressing. Half the newborns were assigned to KMC and half to the usual condition of being swaddled in an incubator. In the experimental condition, the infant was held in KMC for 15 minutes prior to and throughout the heel lance procedure. Then the babies' responses were measured using the Premature Infant Pain Profile, which measures grimacing, maximum heart rate and blood oxygen saturation levels. Continuous video, heart rate and oxygen saturation monitoring were recorded during the procedure and were subsequently analysed. It was found that the pain response in very preterm neonates was reduced by skin-to-skin maternal contact. This response is not as powerful as it is in older preterm babies, but the shorter recovery time using KMC is important in helping maintain the baby's health.  The findings showed that the cuddled babies had recovered from the pain in about a minute and a half, while the incubator babies were still suffering more than three minutes after the procedure. This delay could make a significant difference to the health of a very preterm baby.