Effects of mother-sung lullabies on vaccination-induced infant pain and maternal anxiety: A randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of mother-sung lullabies during vaccination on vaccine-induced pain in infants and anxiety in mothers.

Design And Methods: Our team conducted a randomized controlled trial with two parallel groups between March 4, 2020 and August 28, 2020, at two family health centers in Turkey. This study included 60 healthy-term infants (lullaby group: 30, control group: 30) aged two months, who received the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, and their mothers. We used the Information Form, the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale, the Intervention Follow-Up Form (including heart rate, oxygen saturation, and crying duration), and the State Anxiety Inventory as data collection tools.

Results: Infants in the lullaby group had significantly decreased pain responses than those in the control group (p < .05). Further, singing a lullaby resulted in significantly reduced maternal anxiety in the lullaby group compared to the control group (p < .05).

Conclusions: The lullaby singing method was effective for reducing infants' pain response and mothers' anxiety during vaccination.

Practice Implications: The lullaby method can be used to reduce pain during potentially painful procedures performed in infants and reduce anxiety in mothers. The study is registered under the ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT04692584.