Original ArticleContinuous Feeding Promotes Gastrointestinal Tolerance and Growth in Very Low Birth Weight Infants
Section snippets
Study Design and Population
Infants were enrolled within 30 hours of birth and randomly assigned to 1 of the following tube feeding methods: continuous nasogastric feeding (CNG) (index group), intermittent nasogastric feeding every 3 hours (ING) (control group 1), and intermittent orogastric feeding every 3 hours (IOG) (control group 2). Two control groups were chosen to detect any differences of the placement of the feeding tube (oral or nasal) on gastrointestinal tolerance as well as on the infant's behavior. The impact
Results
Of all eligible VLBW infants born between February 1998 and November 2001, 70 infants (91%) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 feeding groups. Seven eligible infants (9%) did not participate in the study; 5 were excluded due to a lack of parental consent to partake in the study, 1 was missed, and 1 was excluded because the mother died during caesarean section delivery. Two infants were excluded after randomization because of diagnosed malformations.
There were no statistically significant
Discussion
This study demonstrates that continuous feeding of infants with birth weight < 1200 g and GA of 24 to 29 weeks improved gastrointestinal tolerance and shortened the time needed to achieve full enteral feeding relative to bolus feeding. The study also indicates that continuous feeding might be even more physiologically suitable with regard to enteral tolerance in the extremely low birth weight infants ≤850 g, though the relatively low number of subjects hampers a definitive conclusion.
The
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Supported by grants from the Vårdal Foundation, the Mjölkdroppen Foundation, and the Frimurare Barnhuset Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden.