Pain management

Abstract

It is one of the “Rights of the Child” not to have to endure pain [1, 2]. In the past there was little knowledge or understanding of pain in children [3]. Many of us were taught that babies do not feel pain. Minor operations such as circumcision were often performed on neonates with no analgesia. We now know this to be a cruel misconception and in fact neonates have an enhanced, more global response to pain. Sensitization of the nervous system by trauma at such an early age can lead to different pain behavior in later life [4]. This global response in neonates is due in part to the poor hyalinization of nerves at this early stage of life, and also to the inability to localize pain until the brain develops a proper body image in the first few months of life.