Be sweet to babies

Newborn screening and immunizations are important – but they don’t need to hurt

We all know that blood tests and immunizations are painful for newborns and distressing for parents. However, there are simple and effective ways to reduce pain during vaccinations, screening and other painful procedures.

CHEO’s Be Sweet to Babies research team and the University of Ottawa’s School of Nursing have created some helpful videos demonstrating how to ease infant pain during painful procedures.

View full video playlist on YouTube

Breastfeeding to minimize vaccination pain

This video shows you how to reduce infant pain during vaccinations by breastfeeding.

Reduce your infant’s pain during newborn blood tests

This video shows you how to reduce infant pain during blood tests by using these simple techniques:

• breastfeeding
• skin to skin care (also known as kangaroo care)
• giving small amounts of sugar water (sucrose or glucose)

Research shows all of these techniques work, yet they are not being used often enough.

Video is also available in French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Mandarin, German, Inuktitut, Farsi, Vietnamese and Hindi.

Please help us by:

• Watching our videos
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With your help we will be able to reach a wide audience of parents and give them the information they need to improve pain management and to advocate for their newborns.