Experts warn against using sugar as pain relief for babies

Dr Rebecca Slater, who led a Medical Research Council-funded study at University College London, said: "Our findings indicate that sucrose is not an effective pain relief drug. This is especially important in view of the increasing evidence that pain may cause short- and long-term adverse effects on infant neurodevelopment."

The research measured the responses of the brains and spinal cords of 59 babies submitted to heel-prick tests after receiving an oral sucrose solution.

It is common practice to seek to reduce the pain of some procedures by giving babies one-tenth of a gram of sucrose. Slater suggested that such routine use was stopped until further investigation was carried out.