PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - H M Abdulkader
AU  - Y Freer
AU  - S M Fleetwood-Walker
AU  - N McIntosh
TI  - Effect of suckling on the peripheral sensitivity of full-term newborn infants
AID  - 10.1136/adc.2006.097931
DP  - 2007 Mar 01
TA  - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition
PG  - F130--F131
VI  - 92
IP  - 2
4099  - http://fn.bmj.com/content/92/2/F130.short
4100  - http://fn.bmj.com/content/92/2/F130.full
SO  - Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed2007 Mar 01; 92
AB  - Background: Sucking may reduce the manifestations of pain in newborn infants. Objective: To examine the effect of suckling on the threshold for peripheral somatosensory responses. Subjects and methods: Graded Von Frey filaments were applied to the heel to initiate peripheral somatosensory responses (withdrawal reflex and gross body movements) in term infants. Results: Dummy sucking increases the somatosensory threshold, but breast feeding had a more marked effect, increasing the threshold of the flexion withdrawal reflex (p⩽0.002) and the threshold for gross body movements (p⩽0.002). Conclusion: Peripheral sensitivity of newborn infants is considerably reduced during sucking, particularly at the breast.