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Clinical Trial
. 2000 Jan;105(1):e14.
doi: 10.1542/peds.105.1.e14.

Skin-to-skin contact is analgesic in healthy newborns

L Gray  1 , L Watt, E M Blass
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Skin-to-skin contact is analgesic in healthy newborns

L Gray et al. Pediatrics. 2000 Jan.

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.

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