Transpyloric and Intermittent Gavage Feeding

Abstract

Pereira and Lemons (Controlled study of transpyloric and intermittent gavage feeding in the small preterm infant. Pediatrics 67:68, 1981) compared techniques of feeding low-birth-weight infants: transpyloric (nasoduodenal) feeding and intermittent gavage. They observed no significant differences for several parameters, and concluded that there was no difference between the two techniques in supplying nutrition to the low-birth-weight infants and that the transpyloric feeding could not be recommended because it was risky and difficult. According to our experience1 one of the advantages of the transpyloric feeding is that it permits a greater caloric and nutritional intake (140 to 150 kcal/kg/day) in the early days of life without the complications caused by the introduction of the same amount of nutrients into the stomach.