Preterm Infants on Early Solid Foods and Neurodevelopmental Outcome—A Secondary Outcome Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

TL;DR

This study examined whether introducing solid foods early or late in preterm infants affects their neurodevelopmental outcomes, finding no significant differences between the two approaches.

Contribution

The study provides evidence that the timing of solid food introduction does not impact neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm infants.

Findings

No significant differences in neurodevelopmental outcomes were found between early and late solid food introduction groups.

Results were consistent across multiple age assessments (1, 2 years corrected age and 3 years 4 months uncorrected age).

Abstract

There are no evidence-based recommendations regarding the introduction of solid foods in preterm infants. The objective of this study was to investigate whether age at the introduction of solid foods affects neurodevelopmental outcomes. This study focuses on analyzing secondary outcomes from a prospective trial involving very low birth weight infants who were randomly assigned to either an early (10–12th week corrected age) or a late (16–18th week corrected age) complementary feeding group. The study evaluated neurodevelopmental outcomes at one and two years of corrected age, as well as at three years and four months of uncorrected age by utilizing Bayley scales. In total, 89 infants were assigned to the early and 88 infants to the late group, all with a mean gestational age of 27 + 1 weeks. A linear mixed-effects model was used to compare neurodevelopmental outcomes across the study groups, taking into account variables such as gestational age at birth, sex, nutrition at discharge, parents’ highest education level, and high-grade intraventricular hemorrhage. The analysis did not reveal any significant differences between the groups. The timepoint of the introduction of solid foods had no impact on neurodevelopmental outcomes at one and two years of corrected age, and at three years and four months of uncorrected age.