Very low birth weight (VLBW) infants often have delayed passage of stools and feeding intolerance. There are no studies on total gut transit time in these infants. Sixteen VLBW infants (Birthweight 902±261g and gestational age 26±1.8 weeks) were enrolled when they were tolerating enteral feeds for more than 3 days. Infants with gastrointestinal malformations and those who developed necrotizing enterocolitis were excluded. None of the infants had hypothyroidism or cystic fibrosis. The GT was measured in each infant after administering 50 mg (0.5 ml) of carmine red dye by nasogastric route. The time of first appearance (T1) and the time of last appearance (T2) of red dye in stool was recorded. The study was repeated in each infant every 2 weeks until the infant reached a postmenstrual age of 36 weeks or was discharged from the hospital. Illness severity of each infant at the time of the study was assessed by the Neonatal Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (NTISS). A total of 44 studies were performed in these 16 infants. Fourteen of the 16 infants were exposed to antepartum glucocorticosteroids and were fed mothers' milk.Table

Table 1
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T1 inversely correlated with postmenstrual age (r= -0.34; p<0.05) but not with illness severity.

CONCLUSIONS: Gut transit time is prolonged in the neonatal period and improves with increasing postmenstrual age and postnatal age.