Mozart May Work as a Painkiller for Babies

Playing Mozart’s music may have a painkiller effect on babies during medical procedures, a new study reports. This applies to situations in which infants undergo an unpleasant procedure, such as taking blood from the heel for analysis.

Listening to music has proven to be an effective method of relieving pain in infants undergoing minor medical procedures, according to a study published in the latest issue of the journal Pediatric Research.

The researchers measured pain levels in a hundred newborns who underwent standard medical screening for jaundice and phenylketonuria. The study was conducted in New York from April 2019 to February 2020.

The babies who took part in the study were newborns. They were about two days old and born during the thirty-ninth week of gestation. According to standard procedure, before taking a heel sample, they received a small amount of sugar solution to relieve pain.

Details of the Study

In the study, fifty-four out of a hundred infants listened to Mozart’s instrumental “Lullaby” both during blood sampling as well as twenty minutes prior to the procedure and five minutes afterwards. The remaining participants went through blood sampling without such musical accompaniment.

The results were studied according to several criteria, among which were facial expression, crying intensity, breathing patterns, limb movements, and general activity of the infants. Using a special scale, researchers measured a significant reduction in pain levels in those babies who listened to music during the procedure.

According to results, pain scores of infants who received musical accompaniment decreased from seven to four points during the procedure. The scores then further decreased to zero within one to two minutes afterwards. The group of children who did not listen to music had pain scores of seven, five and a half, and two, respectively.

This study raises the question of the possibility of using recordings of parental voices along with music to alleviate pain in newborns during medical procedures. Scientists note the importance of physical comfort for caregivers in addition to musical impact.

The authors of the study conclude that the use of recorded music along with conventional sucrose analgesia could provide a simple and affordable method for pain relief in healthy newborns, and the results could be applied even in resource-limited settings such as nurseries.

Baby With DNA From Three People

Another significant babies-related discovery has recently amazed the scientific and medical society. A revolutionary in-vitro fertilization (IVF) approach has resulted in the birth of the UK’s inaugural baby with genetic material from three individuals.

Termed mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), this procedure entails transferring the nucleus from the mother’s egg to a donor egg containing healthy mitochondrial DNA, thereby curbing the inheritance of detrimental mutations.

Although colloquially referred to as a “three-parent baby,” the majority of DNA, namely over 98.8 percent, stems from only two individuals. Approved by the UK parliament in 2015, this achievement marks a significant stride in the gradual refinement of MDT implementation.