Rev. Soc. Bras. Enferm. Ped.2025;25:eSOBEP20252.
Use of breast analgesia for pain relief in newborns and infants during vaccination: integrative review
DOI: 10.31508/1676-3793202502i
Abstract
Objective
To identify the use of breast analgesia for pain relief in newborns and infants during vaccination.
Methods
This integrative literature review was conducted in the PubMed, SciELO, Ovid, and Virtual Health Library (VHL/LILACS) databases, indexing scientific journals on nursing and related health areas in English, Spanish, or Portuguese from 2014 to 2025. The central topic was: breastfeeding during vaccination as a non-pharmacological intervention for pain relief. The question to be answered was: what is the use of breast analgesia for pain relief in newborns and infants during vaccination? It was constructed based on the mnemonic PICo: P (population): newborns and infants; I (intervention): breast analgesia as an intervention for pain relief; Co (context): scientific literature.
Results
Eighteen articles were included, most of them with strong evidence, only two of which were Brazilian. The main findings showed that breastfeeding remains the best method among non-pharmacological methods for pain relief in invasive procedures when compared to others used alone (non-nutritive sucking, holding the baby in the lap, use of local cold spray, skin-to-skin contact). However, it has a greater analgesic effect when combined with other non-pharmacological pain relief interventions.
Conclusion
This review showed that breastfeeding remains the best non-pharmacological intervention for pain relief in newborns and infants. However, the review revealed a limitation in the volume of publications and a gap in knowledge regarding practical training for nursing staff to apply breastfeeding as a non-pharmacological pain relief intervention in vaccination units.
Keywords: Breast feeding; Newborn; Pain management; Vaccination
