Available trial data do not provide evidence that advancing enteral feed volumes at daily increments of 15 to 20 mL/kg ( compared with 30 to 40 mL/kg ) reduces the risk of NEC or death in very preterm or VLBW infants , extremely preterm or ELBW infants , SGA or growth-restricted infants , or infants with antenatal AREDFV .
Advancing the volume of enteral feeds at a slow rate results in several days of delay in establishing full enteral feeds and may increase the risk of invasive infection
BACKGROUND Early enteral feeding practice s are potentially modifiable risk factors for necrotising enterocolitis ( NEC ) in very preterm or very low birth weight ( VLBW ) infants .
Observational studies suggest that conservative feeding regimens , including slowly advancing enteral feed volumes , reduce the risk of NEC .
However , slow feed advancement may delay establishment of full enteral feeding and may be associated with metabolic and infectious morbidities secondary to prolonged exposure to parenteral nutrition .
OBJECTIVES To determine effects of slow rates of enteral feed advancement on the incidence of NEC , mortality , and other morbidities in very preterm or VLBW infants .
The Speed of Increasing milk Feeds: a randomised controlled trial
Background In the UK , 1–2 % of infants are born very preterm ( < 32 weeks of gestation ) or have very low birth weight ( < 1500 g ) . Very preterm infants are initially unable to be fed nutritional volumes of milk and therefore require intravenous nutrition . Milk feeding strategies influence several long and short term health outcomes including growth , survival , infection ( associated with intravenous nutrition ) and necrotising enterocolitis ( NEC ) ; with both infection and NEC being key predictive factors of long term disability . Currently there is no consistent strategy for feeding preterm infants across the UK . The SIFT trial will test two speeds of increasing milk feeds with the primary aim of determining effects on survival without moderate or severe neurodevelopmental disability at 24 months of age , corrected for prematurity . The trial will also examine many secondary outcomes including infection , NEC , time taken to reach full feeds and growth . Methods / design Two thous and eight hundred very preterm or very low birth weight infants will be recruited from approximately 30 hospitals across the UK to a r and omised controlled trial . Infants with severe congenital anomaly or no realistic chance of survival will be excluded . Infants will be r and omly allocated to either a faster ( 30 ml/kg/day ) or slower ( 18 ml/kg/day ) rate of increase in milk feeds . Data will be collected during the neonatal hospital stay on weight , infection rates , episodes of NEC , length of stay and time to reach full milk feeds . Long term health outcomes comprising vision , hearing , motor and cognitive impairment will be assessed at 24 months of age ( corrected for prematurity ) using a parent report question naire . Discussion Extensive search es have found no active or proposed studies investigating the rate of increasing milk feeds . The results of this trial will have importance for optimising incremental milk feeding for very preterm and /or very low birth weight infants . No additional re sources will be required to implement an optimal feeding strategy , and therefore if successful , the trial results could rapidly be adopted across the NHS at low cost . Trial registration IS RCT N Registry ; IS RCT N76463425 on 5 March , 2013
Available trial data do not provide evidence that advancing enteral feed volumes at daily increments of 15 to 20 mL/kg ( compared with 30 to 40 mL/kg ) reduces the risk of NEC or death in very preterm or VLBW infants , extremely preterm or ELBW infants , SGA or growth-restricted infants , or infants with antenatal AREDFV .
Advancing the volume of enteral feeds at a slow rate results in several days of delay in establishing full enteral feeds and may increase the risk of invasive infection
BACKGROUND Early enteral feeding practice s are potentially modifiable risk factors for necrotising enterocolitis ( NEC ) in very preterm or very low birth weight ( VLBW ) infants .
Observational studies suggest that conservative feeding regimens , including slowly advancing enteral feed volumes , reduce the risk of NEC .
However , slow feed advancement may delay establishment of full enteral feeding and may be associated with metabolic and infectious morbidities secondary to prolonged exposure to parenteral nutrition .
OBJECTIVES To determine effects of slow rates of enteral feed advancement on the incidence of NEC , mortality , and other morbidities in very preterm or VLBW infants .