Music May Ease Preemie Pain & Help with Feedings

Music has long been thought comforting to preemies, and a recent study by the University of Alberta adds more evidence to this claim. Specifically, the study found that a pacifier activated music system improved oral feedings among premature infants who were having difficulty in that area.

The study also tried to determine if music played while preemies were having their heels pricked eased infants' pain. According to Manoj Kumar, an assistant clinical professor in the neonatal division of the pediatrics department at the university, "Calmer infants, a stable condition in the child's physiologic functions such as heart rate and higher oxygen saturation, and lesser pain during the painful procedures such as circumcision and blood sampling via heal prick."

However, many doctors still feel as Dr. F. Sessions Cole, director of newborn medicine and head of the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Louis Children's Hospital, does. "Based on this article, evaluation of the use of music for pain relief among sick newborn infants is experimental at best," says Cole, "and will require more carefully designed, methodologically rigorous strategies before any kind of conclusion about its usefulness can be made."

SOURCE: "Music May Temper Pain in Preemies," Drugs.com, http://www.drugs.com/news/music-may-temper-pain-preemies-17979.html