Feeding

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to elicit physician and nursing perceptions about initiation of minimal enteral feedings (MEF) in very low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants. STUDY DESIGN: A three-phase, mixed methods study including a quantitative chart review of 37 VLBW infants, followed by 26 qualitative observations of morning rounds, 26 interviews of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) medical team members, tailored interventions based on the identified barriers to MEF, and finally a postintervention chart audit of 50 VLBW infants...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to assess the clinical benefits and risks of semicontinuous (CON) versus intermittent nasogastric tube feeding in low-birth-weight infants. METHODS: Infants with a birth weight <1750 g and gestational age <32 weeks were stratified according to birth weight and assigned to either CON or intermittent bolus (BOL) feeding. The primary endpoint was days to full enteral feeding (defined as 120 mL(-1) · kg(-1) · day(-1))...

OBJECTIVE: Breast feeding alone does not provide adequate nutrition for growth in preterm infants; therefore, fortifiers are added when over 70-80 cc/kg/day of breast milk is tolerated. As there are few studies comparing early and late breast milk fortification, the following study was conducted. STUDY DESIGN: This double-blind clinical trial was performed on 80 preterm infants (gestational age of 28-34 weeks, birth weight <2 kg). The newborns were randomly divided into two groups to receive either early or late fortification...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether feeding with 2-hourly or 3-hourly feeding interval reduces the time to achieve full enteral feeding and to compare their outcome in very low birthweight preterm infants. DESIGN: Parallel-group randomised controlled trial with a 1:1 allocation ratio. SETTING: Two regional tertiary neonatal intensive care units. PATIENTS: 150 preterm infants less than 35 weeks gestation with birth weight between 1...

The aim of the study was to explore the practice and attitudes of Saudi mothers towards breastfeeding. A cross-sectional survey done on a total of 517 Saudi mothers using a questionnaire inquiring about their demographic data, breastfeeding practice in the first 6 months after delivery and longer, different reasons for stopping breastfeeding. Furthermore, their impression on the relation between breastfeeding and breast cancer as well as prevention of infant's allergic and infectious diseases. Only 37.5% of the mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months...

Probiotics have been linked to a reduction in the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis and late-onset sepsis in preterm infants. Recently, probiotics have also proved to reduce time to achieve full enteral feeding (FEF). However, the relationship between FEF achievement and type of feeding in infants treated with probiotics has not been explored yet. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the effect of probiotics in reducing time to achieve FEF in preterm infants, according to type of feeding (exclusive human milk (HM) vs...