Analgesic effect of breast milk versus sucrose for analgesia during heel lance in late preterm infants

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this trial was to investigate whether breast milk (either breastfed or bottle-fed) has a better analgesic effect than sucrose in newborns born at a postmenstrual age between 32 and 37 weeks.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial at a secondary care neonatal unit in the Netherlands on 71 preterm neonates (postmenstrual age at birth 32-37 weeks), undergoing heel lance with an automated piercing device. Newborns were randomly assigned to breast milk (either breastfed or bottle-fed) administered during heel lance or oral sucrose administered before heel lance. We assessed the Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) score (range, 0-21) to investigate whether there was a difference in pain score between neonates receiving breast milk and those receiving sucrose solution.

Results: There was no significant difference in mean PIPP score between neonates receiving breast milk (6.1) and those receiving sucrose (5.5), with a mean difference of 0.6 (95% confidence interval -1.6 to 2.8; P = .58).

Conclusions: From this study, it cannot be concluded that breast milk has a better analgesic effect than sucrose in late preterm infants. From the results, it follows with 95% confidence that the analgesic effect of breast milk is not >1.6 points better and not > 2.8 points worse on the PIPP scale (SD 3.7) than the analgesic effect of sucrose in late preterm infants.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01276366.