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- Published on: 26 September 2017
- Published on: 3 July 2017
- Published on: 26 September 2017Response: High flow nasal cannula versus NCPAP: No difference in time to full oral feeds
We are delighted that our work received the attention of the neonatal community. The protocol in the study was exactly as stated in our paper, oral feeds were offered at least once in 72 hours, more often if cues were evident. As cue-based feeding depends on individual infants’ physiological wellbeing and readiness to feed a traditional feeding guideline based on volume and time would be contradictory. The cue based feeding might have some effect on earlier achievement of the full oral feeding.(1) Usual total feeding volume in our unit is between 120 ml/kg/day to 180 ml/kg/day and this depends on several factors: co-morbidity (e.g. patent ductus arteriosus, chronic lung disease), type of milk (maternal breast milk, donor breast milk, different type of formulas), weight gain. The total enteral intake would not be feasible to protocolize. The volume taken orally (volume per feed and hike of feeds) was determined by the effort and energy of each individual baby as opposed to following any particular schedule (as mentioned earlier cue-based or infant-led feeding). As our cohort consisted of infants on full enteral feeding, there was no specific definition of feeding intolerance and indeed we did not identify any problems with feeding intolerance in the trial.
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The first oral feed in our trial was 9.3 ± 6.5 days after randomization in High Flow (HF) group and 10.9 ± 4.8 days in nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) group, that is 33.3 ± 0.9 weeks of postmenstru...Conflict of Interest:
None declared. - Published on: 3 July 2017High flow nasal cannula versus NCPAP: No difference in time to full oral feeds
We read with great interest the article by Sinead J Glackin et al, published in this journal and found the results impressive.[1]. However, we have certain observations about the conduct of the study.
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Even though it was a randomized controlled trial and authors mentioned that oral feeds were offered in both groups at least once every 72 hours and additional feeds were offered when neonates demonstrated feeding cues but they didn’t mention about the exact feeding schedule like frequency of oral feeding, volume per feed and rate of hike of feeds in each group. This bears an important implication on the primary outcome as well as the external validity of the study. If there is no well-defined policy then there will be individualization of practice and lot of bias in the study despite randomization. It’s also worth emphasizing here that the authors should have mentioned about the local guidelines practiced for feed hiking and definition of feed intolerance, for the sake of external validity.
Despite being eligible and in a trial authors could give first oral feed 9-10 days after the enrollment. The reason for the delay of initiation of oral feeds for so many days despite eligibility is not very clear. Even in a randomized trail when we fail to initiate oral feeds before 33-34 weeks of corrected gestational age, it will not be feasible in routine practice. So, before using these results in clinical practice we should have strong evidence for the age of initiation of...Conflict of Interest:
None declared.