Bezzy communities provide meaningful connections with others living with chronic conditions. Join Bezzy on the web or mobile app. Sugar water might also have some pain-relieving properties for babies.
But is sugar water a safe and effective treatment to help soothe your baby? Some recent medical studies show that a sugar water solution may help reduce pain in infants. Unfortunately, there are also risks to giving your baby sugar water. Read on to learn more about the treatment and when it should be used.
Some hospitals use sugar water to help babies with pain during a circumcision or other surgeries. Sugar water should be administered by a pediatrician. One study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood found that babies up to 1 year old cried less and may have felt less pain when given a sugar water solution before getting a vaccine shot. The sweet taste is believed to have a calming effect. It might work as well as anesthesia in some cases. But more research is needed in order to tell how exactly sugar water works for pain in newborns and the correct dosage needed to be effective.
Godfred-Cato says there are some studies that have found breast-feeding to be more effective than sugar water for reducing pain, if the mother is able to breast-feed during the procedure. If given incorrectly, sugar water can have some potentially serious side effects. When the body gets too much water, it dilutes the amount of sodium, putting electrolytes off balance. This causes tissue to swell and can cause a seizure, or even put your child into a coma.
Other potential side effects include upset stomach, spitting up, and decreased appetite for breast milk or formula. Alternatively, there are many natural ways to soothe your baby at home. You may have heard that you should avoid giving your newborn anything but breast milk or formula. But why can't babies have water?
