Reducing the Pain of Infants due to Vaccine Injection: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted as a randomized controlled and experimental to compare the effect of breastfeeding and distraction methods on vital signs, pain level, and the duration of crying due to vaccine injection in healthy infants. Methods: The population of the study consisted of 120 infants between 1 and 12 months of age who had met the inclusion criteria. The sample group was randomized and divided into two groups. The control group was breastfeed according to clinical procedure, including 58 infants, and the distraction group was include 62 infants. For both groups, the oxygen saturation (SpO2), heart rate (HR), crying duration, and pain scores were compared both before and following vaccination sessions. Results: The vaccination pain scores of the infants from the distraction group (4.39±2.18) were significantly lower than those of the breastfeeding group (7.05±1.55; p=0.001). The post-vaccination SpO2 was higher in infants in distraction group; whereas, HR was lower in this group compared to the breastfeeding group. The post-vaccination crying durations of those in the distraction group were also shorter than those in the breastfeeding group. Conclusion: The distraction method is adopted by the use of a toy has been found to be effective in decreasing the acute pain during vaccine administrations.