Finger sticks should never be performed on a child younger than _________.

Finger sticks should never be performed on a child younger than _________.

• A. 2 weeks
• B. 3 months
• C. 1 month
• D. 6 months

Answer: (D)

Starting with the practical safety principle: in very young children, capillary blood collection via finger stick is avoided because their tiny fingers have fragile tissues and unpredictable blood flow. This can increase the risk of injury and produce unreliable test results. For this reason, newborns and young infants are typically sampled using a heel stick for capillary blood, while finger sticks are reserved for older infants and toddlers when the finger tips are larger and more likely to yield adequate, stable samples. The threshold used here is six months—finger sticks are not recommended for children younger than that age. Ages like two weeks, one month, or three months are all under six months, so they fall into the period where finger sticks should be avoided. Once a child reaches six months or older, finger sticks become more feasible and safer, which is why six months is the appropriate cutoff in this context.

Starting with the practical safety principle: in very young children, capillary blood collection via finger stick is avoided because their tiny fingers have fragile tissues and unpredictable blood flow. This can increase the risk of injury and produce unreliable test results. For this reason, newborns and young infants are typically sampled using a heel stick for capillary blood, while finger sticks are reserved for older infants and toddlers when the finger tips are larger and more likely to yield adequate, stable samples.

The threshold used here is six months—finger sticks are not recommended for children younger than that age. Ages like two weeks, one month, or three months are all under six months, so they fall into the period where finger sticks should be avoided. Once a child reaches six months or older, finger sticks become more feasible and safer, which is why six months is the appropriate cutoff in this context.