Purpose: To compare the effects of integrating mother’s breast milk (BM)
with three different combinations of sensory stimuli on preterm infant
pain during peripheral venipuncture procedures.
Design: A prospective, repeated-measures randomized controlled trial.
Methods: Preterm infants (gestational age between 28 and 37 weeks, and
in stable condition) needing venipuncture were recruited by convenience
sampling (N = 140) and randomly assigned to four treatment conditions:
(a) routine care (condition 1); (b) BM odor or taste (condition 2); (c) BM
odor or taste + heartbeat sounds (HBs; condition 3), and (d) BM odor or
taste + HBs + non-nutritive sucking (NNS; condition 4). Pain scores were
assessed based on the Premature Infant Pain Profile-Revised (PIPP-R) over
nine phases: baseline (phase 0, 5 min without stimuli before venipuncture),
disinfecting (phase 1), during venipuncture (phase 2), and a 10-min recovery
(phases 3–8).
Findings: Infants who received BM odor or taste + HBs + NNS had significantly
lower increases in pain scores from baseline compared with controls
across phases 1 through 8. Infants treated with either condition 2 or
3 demonstrated significant reductions in mild pain during disinfecting and
recovery phases, as compared with the controls. When condition 2 was
used as the reference, there were no significant differences in pain scores
between the infants receiving condition 3 across the nine phases, suggesting
mothers’ HBs have only mild analgesic effects on venipuncture pain.
Conclusions: Integration of mother’s BM odor or taste, HBs, and tactile
NNS should be considered as an intervention for alleviation of procedural
pain for preterm infants.
Clinical Relevance: Clinicians should incorporate the integrated sensory
intervention into caregiving support for preterm infants undergoing short
painful procedures.
Integration of Different Sensory Interventions from Mother’s Breast Milk for Preterm Infant Pain During Peripheral Venipuncture Procedures A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.pdf
