Slow infusion feedings enhance duodenal motor responses and gastric emptying in preterm infants

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition 1998-07, Vol.68 (1), p.103-108
• Main Authors: DE VILLE, K, KNAPP, E, AL-TAWIL, Y, BERSETH, C. L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Babies; Biological and medical sciences; Digestive system; Duodenum - physiology; Dye Dilution Technique; Enteral Nutrition - methods; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gastric Emptying; Gastrointestinal Motility; Humans; Infant, Premature; Kinetics; Manometry; Muscle Contraction; Nutrition; Premature birth; Time Factors; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
• ISSN: 0002-9165; 1938-3207
• DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/68.1.103

It is unknown whether it is better to feed preterm infants intragastrically by bolus or continuous infusion. This study compared the effect of 2 feeding rates on antral and duodenal motor responses and gastric emptying. Continuous perfusion manometry with a low-compliance machine was performed in 22 infants given feedings at 2 infusion rates. Gastric emptying was also assessed by using a dye-dilution technique to determine whether changes in motor response were reflected by changes in function. The number of antral contractions with both feeding rates decreased from that seen during fasting. Duodenal motor responses increased when infants were fed by slow infusion and decreased when they were fed by rapid infusion. Infants emptied 12 mL/kg of a 20-mL/kg feeding by 20 min after completion of the feeding given by slow infusion concomitantly with the increase in duodenal motor activity but only 8 mL/kg by 20 min after completion of the bolus feeding, when duodenal motor activity decreased (P < 0.01). Two hours after completion of the feeding, volumes remaining in the stomach after slow infusion were one-ninth those remaining after bolus feeding. When preterm infants are fed by slow infusion over 120 min, their duodenal motor responses are more like those observed in adults and their gastric contents are emptied faster and more completely than when they are fed with a rapid bolus.