The effects of non-nutritive sucking and oral sucrose in infant pain relief

Abstract

Objectives: Pain is greatly experienced by pre-term, neonates and infants. Nonnutritive sucking (NNS) and oral sucrose are two forms of non-pharmacological pain interventions that can be used to relieve pain instead of or combined with pharmacological drugs. The aim of this dissertation was to find out whether NNS and oral sucrose actually relieve pain in infants, which one is best, whether they are best when combined together and whether there are any side effects to this intervention. Research question: In pre-term infants, neonates and infants up to one year, are nonnutritive sucking and administering oral sucrose effective in pain relief? PICO elements: P: Preterm infants, neonates and infants up to one year, I: NNS and/or administering oral sucrose, C: no analgesia, O: Use of non-pharmacological pain relief. Method: A literature search was conducted using various search engines. The search was refined by using certain keywords, Boolean phrases and using the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Studies which compared NNS and oral sucrose, or one of the keywords to another non-pharmacological way of pain relief were included in this study. Studies on infants up to one year were considered and those conducted between 2004 to 2014 were included in this search. From this extensive search ten studies were chosen, five of which were randomised control studies, four systematic reviews and one meta-analysis. The CASP tools were used to appraise these studies. After the studies were critically appraised, results were compared and a conclusion was deducted. Results: All the studies concluded that sucrose, in certain amounts, is the best pain relief intervention in certain procedures. However, when combined with non-nutritive sucking a better result is achieved. Conclusion: Non-nutritive sucking and oral sucrose are found to be effective in relieving pain in infants up to one year in certain procedural interventions and should be used in combination with pharmacological drugs to achieve optimum results. This dissertation provides various recommendations and implications for practice. Recommendations that should be explored further are whether long term use of sucrose could make children more susceptible to dental caries or type one diabetes.