Sugar and a hug calm babies getting shots

Last Updated: 2003-11-27 8:00:21 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Merritt McKinney

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - No child likes getting a shot, but a lollipop can help soothe the pain. Now, new research suggests that for babies, a little sweetness and a parent's touch can ease the pain of getting a shot for infants.

What's more, the intervention is cheap and is simple to carry out in a busy pediatrician's office, according to researchers.

"We found that babies who drank sugar water, were held by their parents and had a bottle or pacifier to suck on cried less during their 2-month immunization shots," Dr. Evelyn Cohen Reis of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania told Reuters Health.

The study included 116 infants who were being given their 2-month immunizations.

One group of children was randomly assigned to receive special care. These infants sucked on a bottle of sugar water for two minutes before getting a shot. During the injection, parents held their children, who were given a bottle or pacifier to suck on.

"Parents strongly preferred this approach for future shot visits, and nurses found that it was easy to give shots in this way," Reis said.

Babies seemed to like the extra care, too, the researchers report in the November issue of the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Compared to children who were not given any special care - they were placed on an examination table to get their shots - children in the extra care group did not cry as much.

Based on recordings made of the babies' crying, the average first cry of babies who were held by their parents lasted about 19 seconds, compared to almost a minute in children who were given their shots on an exam table.

Children may receive as many as 20 injections by the time they turn two. "I hope that, with parents' urging, this effective, convenient and inexpensive method for reducing the pain of infant immunizations will become common practice," Reis said.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, November 2003.



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