Does a Sweet Tasting Sugar Solution Reduce Pain During Blood Tests in Sick Babies?(Clinical Report‪)‬

Sick babies are unfortunately exposed to a large number of painful procedures during the course of their hospitalisation. Sweet tasting solutions have previously been shown to be effective in reducing pain during blood tests in well babies; however, there has been little utilisation of this research. This intervention had never been tested in sick babies. The efficacy of a sweet tasting sucrose solution was therefore evaluated in a population of sick hospitalised babies. The results demonstrated that sucrose was effective in reducing pain. Giving sick babies sucrose can therefore be promoted as a means of reducing pain during blood tests and other painful procedures. The raison d'etre of this study is to answer the following question: can small amounts of sweet tasting sugar solutions reduce pain in sick babies who are having blood tests?