A comparison of breast milk and sucrose in neonatal pain relief and coping with stress of ROP examination: using the ALPS-Neo scale

Background: Examination for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is one of the procedures that can be stresssful for infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. Purpose: This study compared breast milk and sucrose for pain relief and coping with stress of ROP examination by using the ALPS-Neo scale.Methods: The study included 63 preterm infants (breast milk group (21), sucrose group (21) and distilled water group (21)). Infants were given 0.5 ml/kg of breast milk, sucrose or distilled water two minutes before the examination. The ROP eye examinations were video recorded from 5 minutes before to 15 minutes after the examination, and infants’ pain and stress levels were assessed using the ALPS-Neo by two blinded evaluators 5 minutes before, during, and 5, 10, and 15 minutes after examination.Results: No statistically significant differences were found during the examinations in the mean scores of ALPS-Neo among the three groups (P> 0.05). However, statistically significant differences were found between the three groups after examinations (P