Premature babies 'feel more pain in later life'

Premature babies are more sensitive to pain than those born after a full-term pregnancy, a study has found.

Researchers say the weeks spent in hospital after birth undergoing painful treatments may leave a damaging impression on their brains.

The effects may to last into childhood, and maybe for their whole lives, they claim.

Experts claim premature babies are more sensitive to pain thanks to extra time spent in hospital undergoing treatment (file photo)

However, the study also found that premature babies respond to cuddles and strokes in exactly the same way as other babies. The findings come from a study of 15 babies at University College Hospital, London.

Pre-term babies can spend months in intensive care units undergoing painful procedures such as injections, tube feeding and blood tests.

Doctors were last night urged to give premature babies as much pain relief as possible to reduce their sensitivity to pain later in life.

The researchers measured pain of two groups of babies by monitoring the brain activity of babies while they had a routine heel lance blood test.

Half the babies were born around their due date - the 40th week of pregnancy. The rest were born prematurely, between 24 to 32 weeks of pregnancy, and had spent at

least 40 days in hospital. The premature babies reacted more strongly to the prick on the heel than the babies born around their due dates, the researchers report in the journal Neuroimage.

However, the brain activity was the same for both groups when they were touched gently on their heels, suggesting it was the pain, not just the touch, they were more sensitive too.

Research leader Dr Rebeccah Slater said being born prematurely and undergoing intensive care affected pain processing in the infant brain. 

'But they respond to touch in the same way as other babies which means they benefit from handling and cuddling like all babies,' she added. 'That is reassuring for parents who are sometimes concerned about handling premature babies.'

The researchers are unsure why premature babies are more sensitive to pain.

A previous study found that nine to 14-year- old children have a different response to pain if they were born prematurely, she said.

Around 8 per cent of babies are born prematurely - defined as before the 37th week of pregnancy.