Do newborns remember pain?

Maddy is back in the Children's Hospital for some GI tests to see what kind of reflux we're dealing with her. Unfortunately, with her admittance to the hospital, she had to go through another blood test. The blood was taken from her heel, which has been the spot most pricked since her birth because it is also the spot where the bilirubin blood tests are taken from.


We were told that newborns don't remember the pain they go through, but I can tell Maddy knows what is coming when the lab technicians grab her heel. A Canadian test on newborns confirms my observation that they do in fact remember.

And as far as newborn memory goes, Parenting magazine said that babies between 0-1 year of age remember frequent images, sounds, people, etc. Thus, the frequent heel blood tests that Maddy has had have been imprinted in her little precious memory.

Hopefully when we know what is going on with her, we can eliminate the need for blood tests for a long long long time!