The Surprising Truth About Babies And Pain: How Medicine Changed For The Youngest Patients
The Old Belief: Babies Couldn’t Feel Pain For much of the 20th century, doctors around the world believed that newborn babies could not feel pain. This idea was based on the thought that a baby’s brain and nervous system were not developed enough to experience pain like older children or adults. Many experts thought that when babies cried during medical procedures, it was just a reflex, not a real response to pain. Because of this, doctors often performed surgeries and other painful procedures on infants with little or no anesthesia.