Background: Small preterm infants often develop constipation when fed formula. Hypothesis: Gastrointestinal transit time (GTT) is at least 2 h shorter when protein hydrolysate formula is fed compared with standard formula. Subjects: 15 Preterm infants (gestational age 29(24-32) weeks, birth weight 1241 (660-1900) g, postnatal age 18 (5-54) days) on full enteral feeds (>150 ml/kg/day) were enrolled .Intervention: Randomised allocation to formula with cow's milk protein or protein hydrolysate. Study design: Formula A contained hydrolysed cow's milk protein, formula B native cow's milk protein. The osmolarity was equal. A cross over design was chosen. Adaptive interim analysis was performed when the data of 15 infants had been obtained (two sided Mann-Whitney U test). Results: At the interim analysis median GTT was 12 h shorter with hydrolysate feeding (p=0.0022).Conclusion: Hydrolysed cow's milk protein improved gastrointestinal passage, but randomised trials are required to investigate whether hydrolysate formulas enable a more rapid establishment of full enteral feeding in preterm infants.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mihatsch, W., Pohlandt, F. Protein hydrolysate reduces the gastrointestinal transit time in preterm infants - a controlled randomised trial. Pediatr Res 42, 410 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199709000-00171
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199709000-00171