Oral sucrose as analgesia for neonates: How effective and safe is the sweet solution? A review of the literature

The objective of this literature review was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of sucrose as analgesia for neonates. The review synthesizes the evidence relating to an emerging common clinical practice to assist practitioners to provide evidence based care. A search of published articles was undertaken with forty-six articles returned of which ten met the inclusion criteria. Newborns needing intensive care are routinely subjected to invasive procedures that cause distress and pain but numerous studies have shown that pain relief remains poorly managed. Sucrose is becoming the accepted non-pharmacological intervention for managing acute procedural pain. Administration has been associated with calming effects and reductions in observed pain behaviours in preterm and term infants aged up to 1 year. This review found that in preterm and full term neonates up to the first month of life there is evidence to suggest that oral sucrose, with or without non-nutritive sucking, is effective and safe for reducing pain responses. A number of studies found that other non-pharmacological methods such as breastfeeding and non-nutritive sucking can also be effective. It is recommended that future studies investigate the potential effects after continuous use of sucrose during painful procedures for very preterm and sick infants.