Analgesic Efficacy of Oral Dextrose and Breast Milk during Nasopharyngeal Suctioning of Preterm Infants on CPAP: A Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) requires nasopharyngeal suctioning for airway patency, which is painful. Other procedures have used breast milk and 25% dextrose as analgesics. We aimed to compare their analgesic efficacy during nasopharyngeal suctioning in preterm neonates on CPAP. In this blinded randomized controlled trial, babies received 25% dextrose or breast milk orally. Pain before, during and after was assessed using the Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) score. Analysis was done for 40 babies. The mean PIPP score in the 25% dextrose group during the procedure was 11.25 ± 2.73 and 13.2 ± 2.55 (p = 0.02) with the intervention and without. In the breast milk group the PIPP score during the procedure was 11.35 ± 3.05 and 13.45 ± 3.27 (p = 0.04); this difference persisted even after the procedure. There was no significant difference between the interventions. Both interventions significantly reduce pain. The analgesic effect of breast milk was sustained.