About This Resource

This wonderful video from Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario demonstrates a simple strategies for reducing pain and distress for babies (and parents!). Learn the research proven way to reduce babies’ pain during needle pokes like heel pricks, blood tests, and vaccines.

Research shows – for infants less than 12 months old, breastfeeding before, during and after a needle poke reduces pain and stress in babies. For the most impact, begin breastfeeding 2-5 minutes before the needle. If your baby requires another poke in the other leg, change is up and position your baby on the other breast. Make sure the your baby has latched and is sucking well before the next needle poke. If you are not breastfeeding, giving small amounts of sugar water before and during pokes reduces pain in babies. You learn more about that strategy in this video.

A really big shout and thank to Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), CHEO Research Institute, University of Ottawa Be Sweet to Babies team (led by Dr. Denise Harrison)

Who Is This For

This resource is for parents and providers.


A Note About Keeping This Free

Good pain care should be a right, not a privilege.

We’ve spent our careers treating pain and medical anxiety, and we know that comfort and control come from putting the power where it belongs: in your hands. Everything here is free and open source by design. No parent should have to pay to learn how to get their child through a vaccine or a bad headache. No provider should have to hunt for what they need to do their job well. Hundreds of thousands of people have used Meg tools, and not one of them has ever been asked to pay.

But free still costs something.

We rely on the generosity of people like you to keep it that way. It takes about 1 in 30 of us, each giving $15 a month, to keep these tools available for free. If they helped you and you’re able, $15 a month keeps these resources available the next time you or another family need them.

Thanks for being here. Whether you are able to give or not, I’m so grateful a kid somewhere has you in their corner.

— Dr. Jody, Founder and CEO

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