Babies are subjected to pain-causing techniques from a few hours after birth. Imagine being so warm inside mom's gut and suddenly start being punctured in the heels, in the legs or in the earlobe. It is not a good way to be received in this world, right?
There is usually a false idea that such small babies do not feel pain, but it is not so. Even premature babies are sensitive to pain with everything that has to happen, poor things. Newborns feel pain as adults do because the nerve pathways that perceive and transmit pain to the brain are already mature.
I was delighted to read in El Mundo Salud the words of an expert like Juan Casado, head of the Infant Children's Hospital of Jesus and professor of pediatrics at the Autonomous University of Madrid, as many professionals call us parents of overprotectors underestimating pain May our children feel.
Recommend methods that help reduce pain in infants and young children. That is, what can we do to make them suffer less when they receive a vaccine, draw blood or suffer a wound.
The incredible thing is that in the face of suffering that parents bring, some nurses with three syringes in hand tell us "Feel nothing", "They forget in a second" (It happened to me) making us feel like we bother when we want to be with the baby.
When the baby is small it is best to put it on the breast or give the bottle while performing the procedure that causes pain. During the suction the body releases endorphins, natural substances with high analgesic power that relieve pain. On the other hand, the perception of pain decreases when the baby feels protected, caressed and lulled in the heat of his mother. The doctor also suggests the application of an anesthetic cream in the places where the baby will be punctured (ears, leg or the point where they will draw blood), I think there are also anesthetic patches, but in any case it is better to consult with the pediatrician.
When children are older and suffer an accident such as a fracture, a cut that needs stitches or annoying treatments is best for parents' comfort. In some hospitals, parents are prevented from entering the priests' room causing both the child and the parents to suffer, who can relieve their child with pampering and words. Some professional will tell me if it is counterproductive for parents to be present, but I think it is more humane for the young child who has suffered an accident to be with his parents.
On the other hand, in cases of more intense pain there are potent analgesic and sedative drugs that suppress pain and even produce retrograde amnesia, so the child will not remember the experience. I suppose it will be given in case of very painful treatment sessions and always indicated by a professional.
In any case, the pain is not good, according to Dr. Casado, "it has no use, it does not cure and therefore must always be avoided and not only for humanitarian reasons, but also because the healing process is often difficult". Nothing more to add.
