Enteral Feeding in Infants With Duct Dependant Lesions.

Effect of Standardised vs Local Preoperative Enteral Feeding Practice on the Incidence of NEC in Infants With Duct Dependent Lesions: a Randomised Control Trial.

This is a multicenter randomised controlled trial to assess whether standardised enteral feeding in newborns with duct dependenty congenital heart disease decreases the risk of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC). The investigators plan to include a total 384 infants. The study will be carried out in three level III hospitals in Poland. The primary end will be NEC and/or death. Secondary end points include weight gain, hospital length of stay, time required to reach full feeding.

Inclusion criteria:

1. Duct dependent congenital heart disease
2. Term infants
3. Parental/legal guardian consent

Exclusion criteria:

1. Potential contradictions to early central feeding
2. Feeding intolerance
3. Hemodynamic instability
4. Death
5. > 50% formula based enteral feeding
6. Birth weight less than 2500g