Nonnutritive sucking during heelstick procedures decreases behavioral distress in the newborn infant

We investigated if nonnutritive sucking (NNS) during heelstick procedures a lleviates behavioral distress in neonates. in our NICU, 26 neonates without severe complications (mean Minde score 0.8, range 0-3), undergoing heelsti ck procedures at least twice a day, in the first 2 weeks of life, were enro lled in the trial (mean gestational age 33.9 weeks, range 26-39 weeks, mean birth weight 1,988.5 g, range 1,200-4,010 g, mean Apgar score at the first minute 6.7, range 4-10, at the fifth minute 8.5, range 6-10). Two heelpric ks were performed in each neonate with NNS randomly assigned. Behavioral st ates, transcutaneous oxygen tension (TcPO2), heart rate, and respiratory ra te were monitored before, during and after the heelstick procedures. Heelst ick procedures lasted for a mean of 109 s (range 50-230 s) with NNS, and a mean of 128.8 s (range 20-420 a) without NNS. Compared with baseline, heart rate and behavioral distress increased and respiratory rate decreased duri ng heelstick and after heelstick. Oxygen tension did not change. Nonnutriti ve sucking had no effect on respiratory rate or transcutaneous oxygen tensi on, but reduced the time of crying and the heart rate increase during the p rocedure. In con elusion, NNS can be recommended to reduce distress in newb orns undergoing invasive routine procedures. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effects of NNS on respiratory rate and blood gas levels. Copyr ight (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Baser.