Pain and analgesia in the newborn.

The traditional view that neonates do not feel pain is now being questioned. Early studies showed what was thought to be a decorticate response in babies with no localisation to painful stimuli and this, together with the belief that the painful experience was not remembered, implied that pain was unimportant. ' As a consequence and because of certain anxieties about the handling of drugs (particularly opiates) in the newborn there has been a reluctance to prescribe analgesia for these patients.2 Data now suggest that infants do feel pain.' 3 4 In this review the underlying neurobiology of pain development in neonates is described, followed by a review of clinical studies indicating that the newborn baby responds (possibly adversely) to pain. We conclude that the arguments in favour of the use of analgesia have become overwhelming.