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. 2007 Mar;92(2):F130-1.
doi: 10.1136/adc.2006.097931.

Effect of suckling on the peripheral sensitivity of full-term newborn infants

H M Abdulkader  1 , Y Freer, S M Fleetwood-Walker, N McIntosh
Affiliations

Effect of suckling on the peripheral sensitivity of full-term newborn infants

H M Abdulkader et al. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2007 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Sucking may reduce the manifestations of pain in newborn infants.

Objective: To examine the effect of suckling on the threshold for peripheral somatosensory responses.

Subjects and methods: Graded Von Frey filaments were applied to the heel to initiate peripheral somatosensory responses (withdrawal reflex and gross body movements) in term infants.

Results: Dummy sucking increases the somatosensory threshold, but breast feeding had a more marked effect, increasing the threshold of the flexion withdrawal reflex (p<or=0.002) and the threshold for gross body movements (p</=0.002).

Conclusion: Peripheral sensitivity of newborn infants is considerably reduced during sucking, particularly at the breast.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

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