Study suggests babies feel pain like adults

In a world-first study, scientists used brain scans to confirm that eight of the twenty brain regions active in adults during times of pain, were also active in babies.

As part of the study, researchers subjected 10 healthy babies aged between one and six days to mild pokes on the bottom of their feet.

Brain scans were then taken and compared with scans of adults aged between 23 and 36 who were exposed to the same stimulus.

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The brain scans also showed that babies have the same response to a slighter “poke” as adults do to a stronger sensation, suggesting they have a much lower pain threshold.

“Obviously babies can’t tell us about their experience of pain and it is difficult to infer pain from visual observations,” said Dr Rebeccah Slater, who led the study. “In fact some people have argued that babies’ brains are not developed enough for them to really feel pain, yet our study provides the first really strong evidence this is not the case.”

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Slater argues that not only do babies experience pain, but they may be more sensitive to it than adults.

“If we would provide pain relief for an older child undergoing a procedure, then we should look at giving pain relief to an infant,” she said.