Effects of intra-oral sucrose on crying, mouthing and hand-mouth contact in newborn and six-week-old infants.

To determine whether a single intra-oral administration of sucrose would calm infants and elicit mouthing and hand-mouth contact, crying newborn and six-week-old infants were given sucrose solution before one feed and sterile water before another in a cross-over trial. Six-week-old infants were also given sucrose and water after feeding. For the newborn infants, the calming effect was rapid, substantial and lasted for at least four minutes. Mouthing and hand-mouth contact increased, but for shorter durations. For the six-week-old infants, sucrose calmed for one minute only before feeding, but had no effects on mouthing or hand-mouth contact. The results imply that intra-oral sucrose has acute age-related effects on crying and suckling-feeding behaviour mediated by a pre-absorptive mechanism. Sucrose may tap a functional system for reducing distress related to feeding and/or regulation of infant state.