Table 2 Recommended pharmacological therapies for common procedures.

Procedure	Pharmacological therapy
Heel stick	None (sucrose 25–50% or milk)
Venous or arterial puncture	EMLA or ametope (0.5 g for 45 min)
Lumbar puncture	EMLA cream
Circumcision	Ring block or dorsal penile nerve block with lidocaine
Intubation	Not known; consider fentanyl 2 mg/kg and midazolam 0.2 mg/kg
Cardiac catheterisation or ECMO cannulation	Ketamine (2 mg/kg) and fentanyl 2 mg/kg
Tracheal suction	Not known; consider midazolam, sucrose
Mechanical ventilation	Not known; consider morphine load at 100 mg/kg (if not hypotensive and over 26 weeks gestational age) or midazolam 0.1 mg/kg with drip at 0.05 mg/kg/h or lorazepam 0.1 mg/kg every 4–6 h

ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.