Home enteral nutrition for infants after gastrointestinal surgery

Home enteral nutrition (HEN) is a safe and effective alternative to hospital-based enteral nutrition in North American and European countries; however, there is less data involving the use of HEN in infants in developing countries. We review our experience and data with HEN in patients who were followed in our center during the past 10 years.

This was a retrospective review of 58 patients who entered the HEN program in the Department of Neonatal Surgery at Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2018. Two kinds of nasal feeding programs were used in this study (24 h of continuously pumped milk [group A] and oral milk every 3 h in the daytime with continuously pumped milk for 12 h in the nighttime [group B]). The gender, age, primary disease, mode of HEN, and complications were reviewed.

The average duration of HEN to full oral feeding was 3.5 months in group A and 3 months in group B. The incidence of diarrhea, vomiting, aspiration, and constipation between the two groups did not differ. Fifteen patients encountered problems related to the tube and 6 patients had problems with the micro-pump. The monthly cost of HEN was 3400 RMB in group A and 3200 RMB in group B.

Under high quality care, HEN is safe and well-tolerated by infants after gastrointestinal surgery. Either as a continuous pump or as oral milk in the daytime and a continuous pump in the nighttime.