Advances in neonatal care : official journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Recorded maternal voice for preterm neonates undergoing heel lance.
To determine if a recording of a mother's voice talking soothingly to her baby is useful in diminishing pain in newborns born between 32 and 36 weeks' gestational age (GA) during routine painful procedures. ⋯ Different modalities of maternal presence would appear to be necessary to blunt pain response in infants, and recorded maternal voice alone is not sufficient. The loudness of the recording may have obliterated the infant's ability to discern the mother's voice and may even have been aversive, reflected in decreased oxygen saturation levels in the voice condition. Preterm neonates of 32 to 36 weeks' gestation may become sensitized to painful experiences and show anticipatory physiological response.