Sucking and Sucrose as Pain Relief for Infants

Partial Blinded Controlled Study to Compare SucroseVs Water, With and Without Pacifier as Pain Reliever During Venous Puncture in Infants 3-12 Months Old

Sucking and sucrose have been shown to reduce pain during venous puncture in neonates. Our study is designed to see if sucking and sucrose relieve pain during venous puncture in infants age 3-12 months.

100 infants age 3-12 months old without neurologic, developmental or cardio-respiratory impairment, needing venous puncture for IV access, or blood aspiration, will be randomly assigned to one of 2 groups - with or without pacifier. During the puncture, each patient with pacifier will receive either 1 cc of water or 1 cc of sucrose (the solutions prepared and marked blindly) . Each patient without pacifier 2 will receive 1 cc of water without pacifier,will receive either 1 cc of water or 1 cc of sucrose (the solutions prepared and marked blindly). FLACC pain score will be used for apin assessment before, during and after the puncture.Comparison of the four groups will be done after the end of the study.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age 3-12 months
• hospitalized in pediatric ward B
• need venous puncture

Exclusion Criteria:

• neurological deficit
• developmental delay
• Cyanotic heart disease
• symptomatic respiratory disease
• known problematic venous access