How do you know a baby is in pain?

Susan Aitkenhead is a consultant nurse in paediatric pain and management at Yorkhill NHS Trust.

On Monday, along with her hospital colleagues, she will be promoting Pain Awareness Week.

The pain management service at Yorkhill has been running since 1994 and has two full-time members of nursing staff, three consultant anaesthetists and input from all members of staff including physiotherapists and psychologists.

It is Ms Aitkenhead's job to understand when a baby, toddler or young child with complex physical and mental needs is in pain and requires medication.

She said: "The thought of a child suffering in silence because they cannot express how they are feeling is unbearable.

DEGREES OF PAIN Acute pain - short term and usually following surgery or an accident Chronic pain - long term as a result of an underlying condition, disease or unknown cause Palliative pain - suffering at the end stages of a patient's life

"Many children have unseen pain due to a chronic or palliative condition and have to fight to have their symptoms recognised by schools, family and friends.

"At Yorkhill, we are dedicated to changing this by constantly improving pain management techniques for children."

Ms Aitkenhead said popular myths, such as babies not feeling pain and that that a child is not in pain if he or she is playing, still exist today.

Because of that the hospital is this week officially launching a set of "tools" which will allow staff to accurately find out just how comfortable an ill child feels.

The trust has also taken ground-breaking steps to give children over the age of five control over their own pain-relieving medication via a squeezable "orange cartoon man".

Yorkhill Hospital is leading the way when it comes to pain management

Mr Aitkenhead said: "The orange man is a very child friendly way of allowing children to have more control over their own pain medication which is carefully calculated by senior staff.

"This is for many children, who may be unable to use the conventional button to administer their medication due to an injury or their underlying condition.

"Children with palliative pain require the highest levels of care and symptom control at the end stages of their life.

"This is the most traumatic time for a family, and pain control is usually one of their biggest concerns.

"We work with the whole family during these times, and since Yorkhill pain management staff deal with children with acute, chronic and palliative pain, we often have worked with this same family for many months, even years."