Newborn babies are more sensitive to pain than adults, according to a major new study.
While previously it was believed that tiny babies’ nerves are not developed enough to feel pain, Oxford University doctors have now discovered that their pain threshold is likely to be much lower than that of an adult.
As part of the study, published in the journal eLife, Dr Rebeccah Slater, of the Department of Paediatrics at Oxford took MRI scans of the brains of ten adults and ten newborn babies. The scans revealed that adult and infant brains responded in a similar way to a mild poke on the sole of the foot. 18 of the 20 pain regions that lit up in the adults MRI also lit up in the infant’s scan.
In Ireland, a number procedures are still carried out without pain relief in babies younger than eight months. These include division of tongue-tie, where a sharp scissors are used to snip the frenulum and free up the tongue.
