Background and aims During 80’s most paediatricians believed that newborns do not feel pain because of immature peripheral nervous system and incomplete myelinization; which turned out to be false. Today, either non-pharmacologic or pharmacological analgesia during invasive procedures is mandatory. On the other hand vibration is very well known for pain relief since 40’s. In this study we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mechanical vibration application to avoid pain sensation during heel puncture in newborn babies.

Methods This study is a prospective single centre, randomised clinical trial. Sixty healthy term neonates were divided into 2 for Control (sucrose) and Study groups (sucrose+vibration). Heel puncture was applied to these babies for the 1st time during routine testing for metabolic disease screening. Data of the participants were recorded and NIPS was used to evaluate the behavioural response of neonates during pain.

Results Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for NIPS scoring system was found as 0.85 during procedure and as 0.87 after procedure. Reliability of the study was found to be high. Mean of NIPS scores in study and control groups were significantly higher during procedure and after procedure (p < 0.001).

Conclusions Mechanical vibration is found to be effective in decreasing pain sensation in neonates and can be applied as one of non-pharmacologic methods.