Babies Four Times More Sensitive to Pain than Adults

Putting to rest the argument over babies feeling pain, a new study carried out Oxford researchers has proved infants indeed feel pain like adults.

The study ruled that babies as young as a day can feel pain and have much lower tolerance level compared to adults. To arrive at their findings, researchers poked soles of babies when asleep in MRI scanners and recorded brain responses. The pain stimulus was mild and not enough to wake the babies. Researchers found brain responses similar to those shown by adults when subjected to pain.

"Thousands of babies across the UK undergo painful procedures every day but there are often no local pain management guidelines to help clinicians. Our study suggests that not only do babies experience pain but they may be more sensitive to it than adults. We have to think that if we would provide pain relief for an older child undergoing a procedure then we should look at giving pain relief to an infant undergoing a similar procedure," said Dr. Rebeccah Slater, the study's lead author.

The study made a strong case that babies experience pain by showing activation of 18 of 20 brain regions that were activated when adults experience pain, in babies as well. It also found that a baby's tolerance is four times lower than that of adults, to pain.

"Some people have argued that babies' brains are not developed enough for them to really 'feel' pain, any reaction being just a reflex - our study provides the first really strong evidence that this is not the case," Dr. Slater said.