Effects of Breastfeeding and Sensorial Saturation on Physiological Parameters of Infants after Administration of Pentavalent Vaccine at Four and Six Months of Age: A Field Trial

vaccination pain management in infants may prevent short-term and long-term physical and mental consequences in them. As a result, this study aimed to determine and investigate the effect of breastfeeding and sensorial saturation on physiological parameters of infants after administration of pentavalent vaccine at four and six months of age.
This randomized controlled field trial was conducted on 171 four-month-old infants. The infants were randomized into three groups. The first group was breastfed for two minutes before vaccination (Breastfeeding group =55 infants). In the second group, the five senses of the infants were stimulated for two minutes before vaccination (Sensorial Saturation group =57 infants). The third group did not receive any intervention (Control group = 59 infants). In all groups, physiological parameters of the infants at four and six months of age were measured and recorded one minute after the vaccination. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS version 21.0 software.
Results showed no significant difference was observed in demographic variables of research samples including gender and weight at four and six months of age,and statistically significant between groups difference in three physiological parameters (respiratory rate, heart rate, and peripheral oxygen saturation) of the infants at four and six months of age (p=0.001). Although sensorial saturation was more effective than breastfeeding, this difference was not statistically significant; whereas, these interventions were significantly more effective than the control.
Both breastfeeding and sensorial saturation practices resulted in the stability of physiological parameters of the infants after vaccination at four and six months of age; however, no significant within-group difference was observed after vaccination at four and six months of age in these two groupsand both methods had identical effects.