None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Extremely premature infants do not tolerate enteral feeds well and are routinely tube fed. Our pilot trial suggests that regular smell and taste of milk with tube feeds may lead to better milk tolerance in very preterm infants, but interestingly may also increase weight z-scores at discharge, an outcome potentially relatedto better head growth and later neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Interventions
smell and taste of milk (mothers' breast milk, pasteurized donor breast milk or formula, whatever is fed at the time) with tube feeding - with every feed for the duration of the feed
<32 weeks gestation until 32 weeks gestation: cotton bud soaked in milk offered for sucking and drop of milk on cotton pad placed close to the infants nose
>32 weeks gestation until removal of nasogastric tube or discharge: 0.2 ml of milk given orally with a feeding syringe will will be provided
Sponsors
Mater Misericordiae Limited
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
0 to 14 Days
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
< 29 weeks postmenstrual age and/or less than 1250 g birth weight
Exclusion criteria
1. infants with congenital conditions associated with the digestive system requiring surgery shortly after birth, e.g.: gastroschisis, any malformation requiring a stoma after birth (e.g.: anal atresia), oesophageal atresia. 2. Congenital conditions leading to impaired growth: e.g.: trisomy 21, trisomy 18, salt wasting enteropathy.
Outcome results
None listed