Heel stick test for obtaining blood samples in neonates: both swaddling and heel warming may help, but heel warming appears to provide greater pain reduction

Heel warming and swaddling are found to effectively reduce infant pain during heel stick tests for obtaining blood samples and can be used as pain interventions in routine neonatal practice.

The efficacy of swaddling and heel warming on neonatal pain can be added to the health professionals’ armoury for pain management in infants, especially in the intensive care environment.

The underpinning mechanisms of pain reduction by heel warming and swaddling may be different and need to be investigated in future studies.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/medicine-and-health-care/american-research-journal-of-nursing/