Early Feeding versus Traditional Feeding in Children with Ileostomy Closure

CONTEXT: Elective intestinal anastomosis is a frequently used surgical procedure in pediatric surgery. AIMS: This study aimed to compare postoperative complications and hospital stay in children who underwent ileostomy closure with early feeding in the 1(st) 24 h versus those in whom the oral route was initiated traditionally. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Observational, comparative, cross-sectional, ambispective, and single-center study that included pediatric patients who had undergone ileostomy closure from January 2017 to August 2019. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were analyzed in SPSS. Statistical analysis was used: the variables were analyzed using the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test when the former could not be applied. RESULTS: They were divided into the following two groups: group 1 included patients who started the oral route early (n = 25) and Group 2 included patients who started the oral route late (n = 20). The average in-hospital stay for Group 1 was 5.48 days and that for Group 2 was 8.35 days. In Group 1, the oral route was started with a mean of 9.32 h and in Group 2 at 146.4 h. Those in Group 1 at 32.9 h presented their first evacuation and Group 2 at 131.45 h. Group 1 reached their normal diet on average at 79.96 h and Group 2 at 172.8 h. CONCLUSIONS: This comparison between early oral feeding and traditional oral feeding suggests that various benefits exist when enteral nutrition is initiated early after ileostomy closure in pediatric patients. The benefits and importance of initiating early oral feeding in adults have been reported, but there are few studies on pediatric populations