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INDIANAPOLIS - Lullabies can do more than put babies to sleep, say researchers at the IU School of Nursing at IUPUI; they actually can help relieve pain.

Nursing professors Juanita Keck, Betsy Joyce and Janis Gerkensmeyer have completed a small study of 40 babies showing that newborns that listened to music during circumcision and blood sampling had significantly less pain by the end of the procedure. The neonates also maintained a steady heart rate throughout the circumcision procedure, and the degree to which their blood was able to carry oxygen also was significantly better for those babies who listened to music.

The researchers chose lullabies timed to a heartbeat - music that is tolerable to medical practitioners and pleasant to babies - to play throughout the procedure.

Keck says that playing music during surgical procedures is a non-invasive and cost-effective tool that is easy to implement. The challenge, she feels, is convincing health-care providers that the music really is effective.

"If we can describe physically how it works, then this intervention could become much more widely used," said Keck.

To achieve that goal, the three nursing researchers are seeking funding to expand their study to a larger scale.

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