Sucrose for "fussiness"

[dalizard]

Are any NICUs routinely using Sucrose for "fussiness" or agitation rather than just procedural pain?

If so, do you have any references to support this practice?

What guidelines do you use for dosing?

Thank you,

Elizabeth Curry, RNC-NIC

Augusta Ga

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We only use it for pain....why...because when we take it out of the pyxis it flags it for a pre and post pain scale

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

Sweet ease is a drug and should be treated as such.

The only "fussiness" we can treat with Sweetease is for babies that have NAS...this is supported in practice because Sweetease causes a similar endorphin release as opiates.

If we pull it for any other reason, other than procedural pain, it is not protected under our protocol.

[Love_2_Learn]

We only use it for mild procedural pain for babies who meet certain criteria (older than 30 weeks PCA, eating at least half their calories by gavage or og/ng tube, etc.). My understanding is that using it for general fussiness could cause a delay in finding out the reason for the fussiness and maybe mask a more serious problem.