Waiting 2 minutes after sucrose administration—unnecessary?

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, oral sucrose is standard of care in many neonatal intensive care units to relieve procedural pain in neonates. This study aims to determine if time interval between sucrose administration and heelstick correlates with pain scores. METHODS: Neonates were prospectively studied with variable time intervals and assessed with the Premature Infant Pain Profile-Revised (PIPP-R). RESULTS: 150 neonates were included with a median gestational age of 30(+6) (IQR 27(+6)–33(+2)) weeks and a median time interval of 72 (IQR 39–115) seconds between sucrose administration and heelstick. In multiple regression analysis, this time interval was not significantly related to the PIPP-R (B=0.004, 95% CI −0.005 to 0.013, p=0.37). Providing non-nutritive sucking combined with sucrose was significantly related to lower PIPP-R scores (B=−3.50, 95% CI −4.7 to −2.3, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that there is no need to wait 2 min after sucrose administration before a painful procedure. Sucrose-induced non-nutritive sucking shows a fast pain-relieving effect in neonates.