If you have a baby affected by hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN), there is a chance that your baby will need blood transfusions. Blood transfusions after delivery can help your infant recover from anemia and can continue for weeks to months until the infant is cleared.
It can be heartbreaking to see your newborn need additional care after delivery. Needlesticks may be unavoidable, and as a parent, you may be wondering if your child feels pain the same way adults do, and what you can do about it.
What doctors can do to minimize pain
The short answer is, yes, newborns do feel pain during needlesticks. Your newborn has a nervous system that can detect pain stimuli and respond to it. However, newborns are unlikely to suffer from the anticipation of painful stimuli the way older kids and adults do when they know a needlestick procedure is coming up.
Pediatricians are typically well-skilled at distracting the child when performing needlesticks so that the perception of pain is minimized. This can be done by dangling toys in front of the child, or performing the needlestick away from the child’s direct line of sight.
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The tricky thing about drawing blood in an infant is that infants typically have small veins, meaning that doctors will need to be highly accurate if they want to puncture the vein on the first try. There are devices that can help with this, such as vein finders, which allow light to be shone onto the location at which the doctor wishes to perform the venipuncture. Vein finders help to visualize veins, making needlesticks more accurate.
If your doctor needs to repeatedly take/draw blood from the infant, a cannula can be inserted. This means that the needle for repeated needlesticks is avoided.
How parents can help
There are a few things that parents can do to make the needlestick process as simple and painless as possible. In older children, it is always helpful to project a calm demeanor and remind the child that a needlestick is like a tiny insect bite that goes away as quickly as it comes.
In newborns and infants, typical comfort measures include skin-to-skin holding, the use of a pacifier, swaddling the child and breastfeeding during the needlestick procedure. Depending on the site of the venepuncture, some comfort measures are more practical than others. Either way, needlesticks tend to be quick procedures, and while children do feel pain, it is unlikely to last long, unless bruising occurs at the site.
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