Considering Pain in Newborn Circumcision

Quote from Carlo V Bellieni

The article by Freymiller and Thompson¹ on circumcision highlights the advantages and disadvantages of this practice. Among the disadvantages, it does not highlight the pain that infants feel, which—may be lessened with the use of analgesia but cannot always be eliminated.² This should be disclosed when asking parents for consent. Pain is a disruptive event if suffered in the neonatal period, as infants’ pain threshold is lower than that of adults; this is why a minor procedure performed on newborns does not provoke minor pain. Luo et al³ report that “the pain threshold of newborns is 30%-50% lower than that of adults, and the pain tolerance is lower than that of children of other ages, making the pain perception more intense, lasting and profound for neonates.”