DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjams.2026.v14i04.023

Pages: 575-579

Background: The birth of an infant is one of the most profound and emotional events in life. After months of anticipation, the neonate arrives, profoundly affecting parents and family members. In today’s fast-paced world, ensuring a healthy newborn is paramount. However, neonates often undergo numerous painful procedures that, while improving survival rates, expose them to repeated pain with potential long-term consequences. Earlier beliefs that infants did not truly experience pain due to immature neurological development have been disproven. It is now recognized that neonates respond more intensely to pain than adults, and untreated pain can lead to lasting psycho-physiological effects. Effective pain management benefits the infant immediately and may prevent future complications. Objectives: (1) To determine pain levels among neonates during invasive procedures. (2) To evaluate the effectiveness of pre-feeding and swaddling in reducing pain. (3) To examine associations between pain scores and demographic variables in the experimental group. (4) To compare pain scores between experimental and control groups. Methods: An experimental study design was adopted, guided by the Gate Control Theory of Pain (Melzack & Wall, 1965). A post-test only control group design was used with 60 neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care units and postnatal wards in Bagalkot hospitals. Purposive sampling was employed, and pain was assessed using the standardized Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Of the 60 neonates studied, 50% were male and 50% female in the experimental group, while 60% were male and 40% female in the control group. Most neonates (74% experimental, 63% control) were aged 1–10 days. Caesarean deliveries accounted for 57% in the experimental group, whereas instrumental deliveries were more common in the control group (47%). Feeding types differed, with 60% of the experimental group receiving