Use of sucrose for pain relief: consequences on breastfeeding of fullterm newborns during hospitalization

Introduction: During the period of hospitalization, full-term newborns (NB) undergo a series of painful procedures, which may affect his behavior and the mother's confidence in both taking care of and breastfeeding the baby. We question whether 25% sucrose, which is offered as a measure of pain relief in hospitalized NB infants, negatively interferes with exclusive mother's breastfeeding during hospitalization in rooming-in care. Aim: Verify the association between the use of 25% sucrose offered as pain relief in full-term newborns and exclusive mother's breastfeeding during hospitalization in shared rooms. Methods: This is a study based on observation, and it is transversal, descriptive and analytical study. The sample consisted of 215 binomials whose birth and hospitalization occurred between June and September of 2017 in a maternity hospital in the countryside of São Paulo, in a Child-Friendly Maternity. The binomials were included in the study only after authorization obtained from the mother, with the signing of a free and previously informed consent form. The data were collected through medical records and specific worksheets. The NB were divided into two groups: NB exposed and not exposed to the use of sucrose during hospitalization, respectively. There was a statistical difference between the groups due to the hospitalization period; thus, to analyze the influence of sucrose use on breastfeeding during all hospitalization, a relative analysis of the variables of breastfeeding by the total number of days of hospitalization of the newborn was made. Associations were verified by the Mann-Whitney "U" test, with a significant p value for ? <= 0.05. Results: From 215 NBs studied during all hospitalization, 111 (51.6%) were exposed to the use of sucrose. Sucrose was applied for 188 (60.1%) of the painful procedures, and it was used in association with other methods such as lap in 18 (5.7%) and non-nutritive suction in 64 (20.4%) of the procedures. Added the isolate use or in association with other measures, sucrose was used 270 (86.2%) times, being the most applied measure in clinical practice of maternity. In the sucrose group, the average of frequency of feeding, cupping, translactation, average time per feeding and assisted breastfeeding were respectively: 7.9, 0.2, 0.5, 11.4 and 1.0. In the nonsucrose group, the average of the same variables were 8.7, 0.03, 0.06, 18.6 and 0.8, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups for feeding variables: feeding frequency (p = 0.03), cup use (p = 0.01), translactation (p = 0.00), average time per feed (p = 0.00) and assisted breastfeeding (p = 0.02). Conclusion: The associations of the data confirmed the hypothesis of the present study, that is, the use of sucrose at 25% for acute pain relief influenced negatively the maternal breastfeeding of newborns during hospitalization, since the group of newborns who received this sugary substance during the venous and capillary puncture procedures, presented lower breastfeeding frequency, lower average time for breastfeeding, greater use of milky complement, higher need for translactation and required more breastfeeding assisted by a nursing professional, when compared to the NB group who was not exposed to it. It is necessary to include non-pharmacological measures with the participation of the mother instead of sucrose, since it was a research in a Child-Friendly Maternity