Gastric residual in growing preterm infants: effect of body position

Studies of the effect of body position during and after bolus feeding upon gastric emptying or gastric residual have not had consistent results. We tested the hypotheses that right lateral decubitus leads to less gastric residual than left lateral decubitus and that the prone position leads to less gastric residual than the supine position. A prospective randomized clinical trial with triple crossover of healthy growing, appropriate for gestational age preterm infants. Each infant was successively studied while fed in the four different positions. Gastric residuals were measured at 1 and 3 hours after initiation of feeding and returned. Thirty-one patients were studied. At 1 hour, right lateral decubitus led to less significant residuals than the left lateral decubitus and the prone position led to less residual than the left lateral decubitus. The amount of gastric residuals 1 hour after a meal appears to be in the following decreasing order: left, supine, prone, right.