Background. Previous reports have suggested that healthy, full-term newborn
infants who are in more aroused behavioral states tend to respond more rob
ustly to painful events. Others have shown that acutely ill premature and f
ull-term infants who undergo significant handling and immobilization as par
t of required nursery procedures respond less robustly to concurrent painfu
l events.
Purpose. To investigate, using an experimental manipulation, the effect of
arousal associated with handling and immobilization on response to acute pa
in in generally healthy, premature and full-term newborn infants.
Methods. Infants were randomly assigned to a group that underwent a series
of handling and immobilization procedures before a heelstick or to a group
that underwent the heelstick without previous handling and immobilization.
Heart rate, behavioral state, and facial activity were compared between the
handled (n = 21) and nonhandled (n = 27) infants during an undisturbed bas
eline, a preparatory, and a standard heelstick procedure.
Results. In the handled group, heart rate increased over baseline levels in
response to the handling but promptly returned to prehandling levels. Ther
e were no significant differences between handled and nonhandled groups in
mean heart rate, behavioral state, or facial activity during the baseline o
r preparatory periods before the heelstick. However, in response to the hee
lstick, handled infants had a higher mean heart rate, greater behavioral ar
ousal, and displayed more facial activity as compared with nonhandled infan
ts.
Conclusions. Healthy premature and full-term newborn infants who undergo co
mmon nursery experiences such as handling and immobilization as part of the
ir routine care can exhibit greater physiologic and behavioral reactivity t
o subsequent painful procedures. The effects of the previous handling may b
e undetectable, using conventional indices of reactivity, until the painful
event. These findings emphasize the importance of identifying reliable mar
kers of previous stress, particularly for newborn infants who may become cl
inically compromised as a result of the physiologic instability associated
with response to pain.