Tag Archives: Necrotising Enterocolitis

Quoted in “nature”

Posted on 5 April 2018 by Keith Barrington

An interesting and well-written article in nature (or, at least, a supplement called “nature outlook”) by a scientific journalist Sarah DeWeerdt has appeared, discussing the acquisition of the intestinal microbiome by newborn infants. She discusses premature infants and the role … Continue reading →

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Antibiotics are dangerous, unless you actually need them.

Posted on 3 October 2017 by Keith Barrington

In response to my previous post Claus Klingenberg wrote a comment in which he mentioned a recent systematic review that he had published with a group of colleagues. This review of a small number of RCTs (9) and a larger … Continue reading →

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Probiotics for extremely preterm infants

Posted on 25 May 2017 by Keith Barrington

The use of probiotics for Necrotising enterocolitis prophylaxis in the very preterm is increasing across Canada. There are apparently, though, centers that will only give them to larger preterm infants, and not to the most immature. I think that is … Continue reading →

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It doesn’t make much difference how often we feed babies

Posted on 29 September 2016 by Keith Barrington

Over the years there have a number of studies comparing two different feeding regimes. Most recently there has been a comparison of 2 hourly vs 3 hourly feeds and a comparison of feeds every 3 hours compared to 4 feeds … Continue reading →

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Hey, doctor, leave those guts alone!

Posted on 24 August 2016 by Keith Barrington

Intestinal function is often sluggish after preterm delivery. Establishing early enteral nutrition, the goal of all of us, is interrupted often by repeated regurgitation, or large residuals (if you measure them) or abdominal distension. There are also reported correlations between … Continue reading →

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Is breast-milk really best?

Posted on 11 May 2016 by Keith Barrington

Although many people (including myself) are convinced that human breast milk is the preferable nutrition for human babies, including the preterm, some of the evidence regarding benefits is shaky. For example the evidence that breast milk feeding reduces late-onset sepsis. … Continue reading →

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Necrotizing Enterocolitis: manipulating the microbiome, part 3

Posted on 9 May 2016 by Keith Barrington

Abdulkadir B, et al. Stool bacterial load in preterm infants with necrotising enterocolitis. Early Hum Dev. 2016;95:1-2.  More work from the Newcastle group, this time the group decided not to look at the proportion of different bugs in the stools, … Continue reading →

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Necrotizing Enterocolitis: manipulating the microbiome, part 2

Posted on 6 May 2016 by Keith Barrington

The Newcastle, UK, group has published an article about the intestinal microbiome of babies receiving routine probiotic prophylaxis. Abdulkadir B, et al. Routine Use of Probiotics in Preterm Infants: Longitudinal Impact on the Microbiome and Metabolome. Neonatology. 2016;109(4):239-47. The authors studied 7 … Continue reading →

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Necrotizing Enterocolitis: manipulating the microbiome, part 1

Posted on 6 May 2016 by Keith Barrington

Some very interesting recent publications about NEC, so I will post a multi-part bumper posting. The first has just been published (in tomorrow’s Lancet) Warner BB, et al. Gut bacteria dysbiosis and necrotising enterocolitis in very low birthweight infants: a prospective … Continue reading →

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PPIs are toxic

Posted on 4 October 2015 by Keith Barrington

PPIs could mean “public-private initiatives” which are highly toxic, as recent experience in the UK and in Quebec has shown, but in this case I mean proton pump inhibitors. Stark CM, Nylund CM. Side Effects and Complications of Proton Pump … Continue reading →

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