**5. Short- and long-term effects of using sweet solutions during infancy**

The fear of adverse effects following the use of nutritive sweet solutions for analgesia for premature and mature infants might be a hindrance to implementing this analgesic method. Among possible short-term effects are the fear of effect of sweet intake on milk feeding afterward. Also the effect on body weight, weather an increase due to development of sweet tooth or a decrease due to decrease in appetite for healthy food such as milk. Of the long-term effects are potential negative effects on growth and development. Of more concern would be the neurodevelopmental deficits, such as attention/orientation and motor tasks, that might result of higher intake of sugar during infancy, particularly infants who spend lengthier time at the NICU and are exposed to multiple painful procedures daily, thus requiring several doses of sweet solutions. It has been calculated that the amount of sugar a preterm infant will ingest over a period of a few weeks at the NICU will be equivalent to half a can of coke ingested by a 1-year-old [48]. Since few studies have examined the potential adverse effects of sweet solutions given at infancy, the word is still not out. Despite that, studies have shown no short-term adverse effects, however developmental effects were not examined thoroughly enough to arrive at a conclusive conclusion.

Studies have proclaimed sweet solutions as safe with no or minimum immediate or long-term negative effects [48]. A few on the other hand have challenged this notion and claimed that many long- and short-term adverse effects are associated with the use of sweet solutions for pain management during infancy [79].

In conclusion, oral sucrose (0.5 mL/kg of a 25% solution, 2 min prior to acute painful procedures) for pain relief in preterm neonates was effective and safe, exhibiting no short-term adverse effects in weight gain and feeding patterns, during hospitalization and post discharge [80].
