Background: To evaluate the effect of different oral glucose or sucrose solutions on the pain response to heelstick in newborns.
Design: randomised double blind placebo controlled trial of water (control) versus one of three solutions of glucose - namely 5, 33 and 50% - or one of two solutions of sucrose (33% and 50%) or nothing.
Setting: postnatal ward.
Patients: seven groups of 20 healthy newborns (gestational age 38-41, weighing over 2500 g) were randomised to receive 2 ml of one of the six solutions on the tongue inmediately before heelstick procedure.
Main outcome measure: heart rate before, during and three minutes after the procedure.
Results: Even if the trend of the cardiac rates did not reach statistic significance, glucose solution 33 and 50% proved to be the most effective in reducing pain response.
Conclusions: Sweet solutions may be an easy, useful, safe and cheap analgesic for minor invasive procedures in newborns.