# Mothers' Views on the Use of Oral Glucose for Pain Relief in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

## TL;DR

The study explores how mothers in a neonatal intensive care unit perceive the use of oral glucose for their infants' pain relief during medical procedures.

## Contribution

The paper reveals mothers' diverse views on glucose's effectiveness and proposes alternatives like breast milk for neonatal pain relief.

## Key findings

- Mothers perceive glucose as an easy-to-use but inconsistently effective pain relief method.
- They suggest combining glucose with other methods or using breast milk as an alternative.
- Mothers desire active involvement in their infant's comfort during painful procedures.

## Abstract

Involving mothers in their infant's pain management is an essential part of family‐centred care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Healthcare professionals commonly use sweet solutions, such as oral glucose, to relieve pain in infants during heel lances and other procedures. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how mothers perceive the use of oral glucose for pain management.

To describe mothers' views on the use of oral glucose for neonatal pain relief.

A qualitative descriptive study was conducted in a neonatal intensive care unit in Finland between May 2023 and May 2024. The participants were mothers (n = 25), recruited from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving newborns. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews based on an interview guide, and analysed using content analysis.

Mothers' views on the use of glucose for neonatal pain relief consisted of four main categories: ‘Varying perceptions of acceptability’, ‘An easy‐to‐implement method’, ‘Contradictory opinions on effectiveness’ and ‘Another method would be better’.

Mothers found glucose to be an easy‐to‐use method for neonatal pain relief, but their opinions on its effectiveness varied. They recommended combining glucose with another method or adopting a mother‐led approach to improve pain management.

Healthcare professionals should recognise the individual nature of each mother's perception of glucose as a method of newborn pain management and consider this perspective when providing counselling and planning pain relief methods.

What is known about the topic
○Sweet solutions are a widely used and effective pain relief method that healthcare professionals commonly use in NICUs.○Parents want to be involved in their newborn's pain management. However, they rarely use sweet solutions for pain relief in the NICU.
What this paper adds
○Mothers have different perceptions regarding the acceptability and effectiveness of using glucose to manage newborn pain in NICU.○Mothers have a desire to contribute to their infant's comfort during painful procedures by fostering a sense of safety. A part of this involvement, they propose the use of breast milk as an alternative to glucose for pain relief.

What is known about the topic
○Sweet solutions are a widely used and effective pain relief method that healthcare professionals commonly use in NICUs.○Parents want to be involved in their newborn's pain management. However, they rarely use sweet solutions for pain relief in the NICU.

Sweet solutions are a widely used and effective pain relief method that healthcare professionals commonly use in NICUs.

Parents want to be involved in their newborn's pain management. However, they rarely use sweet solutions for pain relief in the NICU.

What this paper adds
○Mothers have different perceptions regarding the acceptability and effectiveness of using glucose to manage newborn pain in NICU.○Mothers have a desire to contribute to their infant's comfort during painful procedures by fostering a sense of safety. A part of this involvement, they propose the use of breast milk as an alternative to glucose for pain relief.

Mothers have different perceptions regarding the acceptability and effectiveness of using glucose to manage newborn pain in NICU.

Mothers have a desire to contribute to their infant's comfort during painful procedures by fostering a sense of safety. A part of this involvement, they propose the use of breast milk as an alternative to glucose for pain relief.