The Effect of Breastfeeding Versus Sensorial Saturation on Infants’ Behavioral Responses of Pain following Pentavalent Vaccination on 4 and 6 Month Old Infants: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Study

Background: Pain is the fifth vital sign and its proper management in infants is important. The aim ofthis study was to compare the effect of breastfeeding versus sensorial saturation on infants’ behavioralresponses of pain following Pentavalent vaccination on 4 and 6-month old babies.Methods: This single blind randomized controlled clinical trial study was conducted on ShahidDastgheib Health center in Yasuj, from May to September 2016. Eligible infants (N=180) wereselected using convenience sampling method. Then, using block randomization method, we assignedthe participants to one of the three groups of Breastfeeding (N=60), Sensorial saturation (N=60),and Control (N=60). The infants’ behavioral responses of pain were measured using the ModifiedBehavioral Pain Scale (MBPS) and duration of crying following Pentavalent vaccination. Data wereanalyzed through SPSS software 22 using Chi square, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis,and Dunn s multiple comparison tests. p Results: The results of the study showed that the MBPS mean scores for breast feeding, sensorialsaturation, and control groups in 4-month old infants were 6.60±1.60, 5.40±1.30 and 8.90±0.40,and those of 6-month old ones were 7.20±1.10, 6.10±0.90 and 9±0.50, respectively. Also, both thebreastfeeding and the sensorial saturation groups scored significantly lower in behavioral responses ofpain and crying duration on both 4 and 6-month old infants compared to the control group (p <0.05).Sensorial saturation group significantly scored lower in behavioral responses of pain and cryingduration on 4 and 6 month old infants than the breastfeeding group (p <0.05).Conclusion: Both breastfeeding and sensorial saturation could diminish the infants’ behavioralresponses of pain following Pentavalent vaccination; however, sensorial saturation was more effectivethan breastfeeding.