Skin-to-skin contact as a pain-relieving procedure for infants during heel lances

Skin-to-skin contact has been proven as an effective pain-relieving procedure. This observational study investigated the association between skin-to-skin contact and change of COMFORTneo score, heart rate, and oxygen saturation in 67 infants with and in 108 infants without skin-to-skin contact during heel lance procedures. The groups were comparable. There was no significant association between skin-to-skin contact and change in heart rate (p = 0.111 and 0.881), oxygen saturation (p = 0.139 and 0.121), or COMFORTneo score (p = 0.884 and 0.859), respectively, from baseline to during procedure; or for COMFORTneo score, from baseline to after procedure (p = 0.436 and 0.651), respectively. Conclusion: Even though skin-to-skin contact has many beneficial effects, refraining from using it could be justified when the infant is treated with other pain-relieving procedures, and practical limitations hinder the use.