The Annual Convention of the American Pain Society, in Honolulu, has recently taken place and studies have been presented that have shown that wrapping premature babies is a technique that reduces pain They feel in invasive medical therapies.
Dr. Randall Clark, director of the Pediatric Anesthesiology Section of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has presented the work and explained that, since assessing the pain of neonates is very complicated, indirect measures have been used that They are known as "pain profile".
The data analyzed were heart rate, oxygen saturation, certain facial grimaces, behavior and, of course, the gestational age of babies.
Measurements were made before, during and at intervals of two minutes after the invention, which was the heel test, both to a group that was wrapped and to a group that was not.
The results revealed that the babies that had been wrapped they showed less signs of pain and recovered more quickly, with no adverse consequences found in their application in any of the cases.
The conclusion is that, possibly, sensory stimulation reassures them and makes your perception of pain decreases, so they advise that, whenever possible, consider the possibility of wrapping the baby before doing painful interventions.
I loved the study, however, I would encourage them to do the same tests allowing babies to be wrapped by their mothers' arms and in contact with their chest. I'm sure they would improve the results, but in the meantime, it's good to know that wrapping premature babies decreases their perception of pain.
