Needle pokes: Reducing pain with sucrose or breastfeeding

By SickKids staff

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Find out how to offer sucrose or breastfeeding to ease your child's pain from needle pokes.

Key points

Place sucrose solution or sugar water on your child's tongue one or two minutes before a needle poke.
Do not use sucrose if your infant is premature, has low birth weight, has unstable sugar levels or has a GI disorder.
If you breastfeed, start feeding your infant two to five minutes before a needle poke and continue feeding until the procedure is finished.
If you do not breastfeed, you can comfort your child with bottle feeding or sucrose.

Introduction

Sucrose or breastfeeding is effective in helping to block needle poke pain in infants under 18 months.

How does sucrose ease my infant's pain?

When given to infants (babies 18 months or younger), and combined with other forms of pain relief, sucrose can ease pain during procedures such as needle pokes.

You can buy a tube of 24% sucrose without a prescription or make your own sucrose solution by mixing one packet of sugar with two teaspoons of water.

How does breastfeeding ease my infant's pain?

Breastfeeding before, during and after needle pokes reduces perceived pain in your baby. It offers your baby the benefits of distraction, being held and tasting something sweet. These all work to soothe them during a needle poke.

Treatment

Giving sucrose

Ask your health-care team for sucrose before the procedure. Sucrose works best when given one or two minutes before a needle poke.

If you are using a tube of sucrose, squirt one to two drops (0.1 mL total) onto the front of your baby's tongue according to the tube instructions. If you are using your own solution, use a syringe or dropper to place one drop at a time onto the front of their tongue.

You can also squeeze or place one or two drops of the solution onto a pacifier and let your baby suck on it before and during the needle poke.

Your baby does not swallow sucrose; they simply absorb it through their mouth. This means you can use sucrose even if your child cannot eat or drink anything before a procedure. Sucrose will also not affect any blood test results.

Breastfeeding

Start breastfeeding your infant two to five minutes before the needle poke. To help your infant stay calm, continue feeding until the needle poke is finished.

If you do not breastfeed, you can still comfort your baby with bottle feeding or sucrose.

Complications