Researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto compared babies born to mothers with diabetes to babies born to mothers without diabetes (“Conditioning and Hyperanalgesia in Newborns Exposed to Repeated Heel Lances,” Journal of the American Medical Association [2002]: 857– 861). Babies born to mothers with diabetes have their heels pricked numerous times during the first 36 hours of life in order to obtain blood samples to monitor blood sugar level. The researchers noted that the babies born to diabetic mothers were more likely to grimace or cry when having blood drawn than the babies born to mothers without diabetes. This led the researchers to conclude that babies who experience pain early in life become highly sensitive to pain.

Comment on the appropriateness of this conclusion.