
Pain in Preterm Infants: Different Perspectives
Author(s) -
Hala Mahmoud Obeidat,
Doa'a Abdullah Dwairej,
Abdelkarim Aloweidi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the journal of perinatal education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1548-8519
pISSN - 1058-1243
DOI - 10.1891/j-pe-d-20-00032
Subject(s) - medicine , analgesic , psychological intervention , neuroimaging , gestation , intensive care medicine , anesthesia , pediatrics , pregnancy , psychiatry , biology , genetics
In the last decades, there has been a tremendous change in approaching and managing neonates' pain. These changes began with rebutting the previous misconception about neonates' , particularly preterm infants' , pain. The development in neuroimaging has revealed that by 24 weeks of gestation the peripheral nervous system is mature and function fully. Researchers now know that neonates experience pain and premature infants have even lower pain thresholds. Since that time, a mounting amount of literature has addressed the issue of neonatal pain. Many pharmacological and non pharmacological pain reduction strategies have been investigated for their safety and analgesic effectiveness. Many interventions such as nonnutritive sucking (NNS), skin-to-skin contact (SSC), and facilitated tucking are effective in controlling neonates pain.