What parents need to know about pain in newborns

Just because newborn babies can’t tell you they feel pain doesn’t mean they don’t feel pain. They do. And parents can help. We tend to think that newborns are too little to really experience pain, and that if they do experience it, they soon forget it. However, research has shown that, indeed, babies do experience pain — and that repeated painful experiences in the newborn period can lead to both short- and long-term problems with development, emotions, and responses to stress. This is particularly a problem for babies who need many medical procedures after they are born, such as premature babies, babies with certain birth defects, and those who have birth complications or get sick shortly after birth. But even perfectly healthy babies may have some painful procedures, such as heel sticks for newborn screening tests, immunizations, or circumcisions. That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released an updated policy statement on the prevention and management of procedural pain in newborns: to lessen the pain newborns experience. While the policy statement is written for health care providers, it’s important for the parents of newborns to be aware of it too. We certainly need to avoid doing painful procedures in the first place. The policy statement does say that we should be very thoughtful and careful when it comes to choosing to do painful things to babies. But some of the painful things we do are either necessary or very helpful to the healt...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Children's Health Family Planning and Pregnancy Parenting Source Type: news