Comparison of Time Taken for Feeding Stable Preterm Babies Between Regular Nurse Feeding and Feeding with Feed Rail—A Randomized, Controlled Study

OBJECTIVE: To compare the variation of feeding rate and time taken for feeds between manual and automated feeding via feed rail. METHODS: Stable preterm babies weighing between 1 and 2 kg, on partial or full enteral feeds via gavage were randomized into gravity and feed rail feeding group, respectively. Ten nurses and 4 babies were paired to form 40 nurse-baby pairs for the study. Forty feeding events in each groups were recorded. RESULTS: The median duration of feeding in the feed rail group was 18.5 min compared to 15 min in nurse-led feeding (p = 0.34). Feeding rate corrected for bodyweight ranged between 0.8 and 2.3 mL/kg/min in the feed rail group compared to 2.5 and 8.9 mL/kg/min in the control (manual gravity feed) group. This difference in the feed rate variation was statistically significant (p value of <0.0001). The median feed rate with feedrail was 1.3 mL/min as compared to 4.1 mL/min with manual gravity feeds. During the feed rail feeding, nurses were hands-free for 80% of the time. CONCLUSION: Feed rail feeding results in slow, sustained, and minimal variation in gravity feeding at a rate of 1 to 2 mL/kg/min without affecting the feeding duration compared to manual nurse-led feeding. TRIAL REGISTERED: Clinical Trials Registry India (CTRI/2020/06/025958). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12098-021-03770-0.