Premature babies 'more sensitive to pain', study shows. But a fetus, not so much.

10 May 2010 ^ | 2/14/2011 | BBC

[ExxonPatrolUs]

Premature babies feel pain more acutely than healthy newborns largely due to the invasive hospital treatments they receive, experts believe. The researchers say better pain relief should be given to premature babies in intensive care. Their study is published in the journal NeuroImage. Being born prematurely and undergoing intensive care affects pain processing in the infant brain. This suggests that the premature group is more sensitive to pain. This, say the researchers, implies that premature babies can benefit from a mother's touch - being held or cuddled - in the same way as normal infants. Andy Cole, chief executive of special care baby charity Bliss, says it is imperative that babies receive good quality pain management to minimise any pain during treatment. Doctors and nurses use a range of techniques to ensure babies' pain is kept to a minimum.

[ExxonPatrolUs]

If premature babies require pain killers, wouldn’t a fetus have feelings too? Yet, I challenge you to find a study that suggests a fetus feels pain. That crazy science thing can make you go nuts about subjects like this.

[Outlaw Woman]

I’m assuming that screaming by the premie is an indicator of pain. Since screaming inside the womb can’t be heard...must be no pain. /s

[LukeL]

But jabbing a scissors into the base of the skull and sucking out a brain causes no pain? Dismembering the child in the womb no pain? Injecting a saline solution into the womb casing chemical burns and basically turning the kid into jerky, no pain?

[newzjunkey]

If premature babies require pain killers, wouldn’t a fetus have feelings too?

Certainly those in "late term" abortions but I don't think that's ever been in dispute and why even Roe vs Wade frowns on 3rd trimester abortion.

I don't know if it's clearly established when the unborn "fetus" can begin to feel pain.

[ExxonPatrolUs]

[newzjunkey]

Since screaming inside the womb can’t be heard...must be no pain. /s

There's a reason why 1984's "Silent Scream," film of an abortion at 11 weeks, is titled that way. We watched that at Catholic school in my day. I don't suppose it's screened in public schools as part of Planned Parenthood's "comprehensive sex education" program.

[jazzlite]

How can any nation practicing such barbaric practices survive? Surely, God has washed his hands of us.

[org.whodat]

Ok, what pervert is sticking pins in babies.

[maica]

Premature babies feel pain more acutely than healthy newborns largely due to the invasive hospital treatments they receive, experts believe.

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Let’s hear it for the “experts.” /sarc
Perhaps they could just ask a NICU nurse if preemies are acutely aware of any touch, not just painful procedures. They have very little subcutaneous fat, so their nerves are very close to the surface of their skin. They do the best when the medical staff try to imitate their life in the womb as much as possible.

It did take years of “studies” for nurses to convince doctors to order analgesia before doing a procedure on a prem. By now it is standard procedure, and the positive results are evident in any longterm follow-up studies of premature babies.