Newborn Babies Need Blood Tests, Nursing Can Reduce Their Pain

Question: I am pregnant with our first child. I am very afraid of needles. I wonder how much blood test our baby need after he or she is born and during check-ups. I know that blood tests are necessary, but I don’t want our baby to get hurt. Is there anything that I can do to reduce the pain of needles?

Answer:

You have a rather interesting question. The law requires that all newborn babies have blood tests to screen for certain congenital conditions. Depending on where you live, some provinces or states require more tests, while others require less.

Most places in North America test for thyroid hormone, PKU (a serious metabolic disease that can be fatal if not detected shortly after birth), blood group and type, as well as sickle cell screen. Some may even test for Hepatitis B. It is not possible for me to list all of these tests, and they can change from time to time.

All of these screening tests are done by heel-prick. Before the test is done, a nurse may put a small heating pad on the heel of the baby to improve circulation. A medical technologist then cleans the heel with an alcohol swab, and pricks the skin with a very small needle. A few drops of blood will be squeezed onto a special filter paper or into some small tubes. This procedure usually takes a few minutes only.

Fortunately the amount of blood that is required for these tests is very small. Medical technology has improved immensely over the last few decades so that most tests can be done on very minute quantity of blood. The medical technologists that draw the blood and process the samples are well trained to ensure that the results are as accurate as possible.

However, if a baby develops medical problems shortly after birth, additional blood tests may become necessary. Your doctor usually has to request these tests, but sometimes nurses can order them as part of the “routine” evaluation. Most of these tests can also be done by heel prick. Some of them have to be drawn directly from a vein. As you can imagine, taking blood from the vein of a newborn baby is never easy. In some hospitals, medical technologists have been trained to do just that, while in other hospitals doctors or nurses have to draw the blood from the baby.

During the first few years of your baby’s life, your doctor will examine him or her a number of times. Most of these visits will involve physical examination and checking for normal development. Your doctor will ask you questions about your baby, and give you suggestions that you need. Depending on the situation, your doctor may have to order blood tests from time to time.

When a baby gets older, blood tests can be done from the fingers or directly from the vein in the arm. Technically it may be easier to prick the finger or the heel, but it actually hurts less from the vein. This is because there are more sensitive nerves in the fingers and heels than in the arms.

Since you are worried about pain from these blood tests, I will tell you that there is a medicine that can reduce pain. It is a topical cream called EMLA, which contains a mixture of two local anaesthetics. It comes in tubes or patches, to be applied directly over the spot where blood test is done. This cream usually takes one to two hours to numb the skin. Make sure you discuss this with your doctor before using this medicine.

I hope the above explanation will alleviate some of your anxiety about blood tests for your child. Good luck and enjoy your motherhood.

[Notes to Readers:  Many more screening tests are being done on newborn babies to detect serious medical conditions in newborn babies; new technology allows more tests to be done on the same small amount of blood. In many hospitals, there are policies to allow mothers to nurse their babies during the blood test: this can reduce the pain.]