Non-nutritive sucking (NNS) has a valuable role in reducing infant's pain and it is safe and effective for infants who experience immunization injections procedures. So, this study aimed to assess the effect of non- nutritive sucking on reducing the pain of infants during immunization. A quasi experimental design was utilized. The study settings: This study was conducted at the following five settings: Benha first health office, Meet El-Attar village, Damalow village, Meet Rady village and Benha second center of family health at Benha city. The study sample: A convenient sample of 100 infants who were undergoing receiving immunization at the age 2, 4, 6 months and their mothers were included. Tools of data collection included; the first tool was a structured interview questionnaire sheet to collect data about characteristics of infants and their mothers, the second tool was mothers' practice toward immunization to assess mothers' knowledge and practice toward immunization and the third tool was neonatal infant pain scale to assess infant's pain during immunization. The results: This study revealed that, the most percent of the study group pre-intervention had moderate to severe pain during immunization injections procedures; while the most percent of them had mild to moderate pain post intervention. Meanwhile, the total percent of the control group had severe pain. The study concluded that infants who received NNS material (pacifier) experience less pain during immunization injections procedures than those who didn't receive. The study recommended: Non-nutritive sucking material should be provided as a routine care for painful invasive procedures for infants.
Key words: Non-nutritive sucking, pain reduction, infants and immunization.
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