Checking a Baby's Blood Sugar

In the first weeks this is the part parents dread most. It gets easier, for a simple reason: technique improves quickly, and babies settle once the routine becomes familiar.

In small babies the sample is usually taken from the heel rather than the finger.

1. Warm the foot first. A warm cloth held against the heel for a minute or two brings blood closer to the surface, so you get a drop with far less squeezing.
2. Wash your hands and the baby's foot, and let it dry completely.
3. Use the sides of the heel, towards the outer and inner edges — not the centre of the heel and not the toes.
4. Prick, then let the drop form. Squeezing hard hurts more and can give a misleading reading.
5. Press gently with clean cotton afterwards until the bleeding stops.

Rotate the spot every time. Using the same small area repeatedly makes it sore and tough, and eventually harder to get a sample from.

Things that genuinely reduce distress: feeding during or immediately after the prick, skin-to-skin contact, a dummy if your baby takes one, and swaddling so the arms are contained. Two people is easier than one — one to hold and comfort, one to do the test.

Have everything laid out and ready before you start. Fumbling for a strip with a crying baby is what makes it feel unbearable.