Sugar can Comfort Babies during Shots

Vaccinations are meant to protect children against different infectious diseases during different stages of growth. Routine childhood vaccinations start two months after a baby is born and are recommended until they complete six years.

Parents often struggle to comfort a crying baby during shots. Solving this problem, a new study found babies who tasted sweet things like a sugar solution before vaccination not crying for a long time after the injection.

To prove the theory, lead researcher Manal Kassab and colleagues used data from 14 previous studies. They analyzed 1,551 infants, aged between one month and 12 months and the pain measures adopted by doctors before the vaccination.

Researchers found a majority of the infants receiving sucrose solution two minutes before the shot. Babies who were given the solution cried only for a short period, compared to other babies who didn't receive the sugar solution.

"Giving babies something sweet to taste before injections may stop them from crying for as long," Kassab, from the Jordan University of Science and Technology in Irbid, Jordan, said in a news release. "Although we can't confidently say that sugary solutions reduce needle pain, these results do look promising."

The sugar may help in the release of pain-relieving chemicals in the body or activate taste receptors that bring feelings of comfort, researchers while explaining the mechanism behind the process, said. The researchers are planning to re-confirm the findings by reviewing more studies.

"We need to see more data from well-conducted trials in children under one year, especially in relation to optimal concentration, volume and method of administration of sugar solutions," said Kassab.

Earlier this year, in April, researchers found the "five S method" developed by Harvey Karp, assistant professor of pediatrics at the USC School of Medicine and author of "The Happiest Baby on the Block", effective in soothing babies during immunization.

Following are the steps in the Five S method:

* Swaddle the baby in a blanket

* Side or Stomach Position- placing the baby on the side or stomach position

* Shush- making shushing sounds

* Swinging the baby

* Suck- giving pacifier to suck