Impact of supplemental feeding on pain in neonatal intensive care unit

ABSTRACT

Neonates can't report pain for a variety of reasons. Therefore, behavioral changes and physiological changes such as heart and respiratory rates, facial expression, reduction in crying, position in bed, activity and consolability were used to assess pain for 60 newborns [30 experimental and 30 control]. Neonates in the experimental group were provided supplemental feeding during painful procedures. Meanwhile, neonates in the control group were not provided any feeding while painful procedures were carried up by nurses. Results showed greater reductions in means heart rate [143.0 vs 158.2 b/m], respiratory rate [43.4 vs 61.2 c/m] and scores of observational checklist [2.3 vs 5.0] between newborns in the experimental group than in the control group. Therefore, it was concluded that supplemental feeding should be provided during painful procedures because it provides some form of pain reduction during painful procedures