Implications for practice and research

• ■ Kangaroo care, swaddling/facilitated tucking and non-nutritive suckling are effective techniques for diminishing responses to procedural pain in preterm and newborn term infants.

• ■ The comparative effectiveness of these techniques against other commonly used methods needs further analysis.

• ■ There is insufficient research in the 1-month to 3-year-old age group to make any recommendations. Different techniques may be appropriate across this group according to age and disability.

• ■ Further research using evoked cortical responses is essential.

Context

Painful procedures are often performed on infants and young children, and they can have life long consequences, particularly when repeated frequently and if pain is not managed effectively. The preverbal population is especially vulnerable, and …