Context

Treating and preventing pain is imperative for physicians caring for newborn infants, as it is everywhere else in clinical medicine. In patients of this age group, the efficacy of analgesic medications is difficult to assess. Opioids are the drugs of choice to treat severe pain, but their most common side effect, respiratory depression, evokes reluctance to administer opioids to non-ventilated newborn infants outside the setting of a neonatal intensive care unit. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is devoid of respiratory side effects and a popular drug for children and adults with pain or fever. This is the …