Thomas 2018.

Study characteristics
Methods	RCT
Participants	52 infants born at 26 to 36 weeks' gestational age, with a birth weight between 750 g and 2000 g and likely to require gavage feeds for at least 48 hours  Exclusion criteria: life‐threatening congenital anomalies, anomalies of the gastrointestinal tract
Interventions	Gastric residual monitoring group: gastric residuals were aspirated and monitored before each feed Abdominal girth monitoring group: abdominal girth was monitored before each feed
Outcomes	Primary outcome:  time to reach full feeds (150 mL/kg/day) and tolerated for at least 24 hours Secondary outcomes:  incidence of feed intolerance; number of feeds that were withheld; duration of hospital stay; duration of TPN; incidence of late‐onset sepsis (blood culture or sepsis screen positive); and incidence of NEC stage 2 or more
Notes	Trophic feeds of 10 to 20 mL/kg/d were started on day 1 in haemodynamically stable infants. Feeds were advanced by 20 mL/kg/d in infants 750 g to 1249 g and those with abnormal antenatal Dopplers or by 35 mL/kg/d in infants 1250 g to 1499 g and were stable. Infants weighing greater than 1500 g to 2000 g were started on full feeds if they did not have abnormal Dopplers, respiratory distress, asphyxia, or haemodynamic instability. Only human (mothers' or donor human) milk was used for feeding. TPN was continued till 100 mL/kg/d of feeds was reached. Full feeds were defined as 150 mL/kg/d. Feed intolerance was defined as the presence of any one of the following 4 features: increase in abdominal girth by 2 cm or more; vomiting 2 or more episodes in the past 6 hours; blood‐stained or bilious aspirates; more than 2 episodes of voluminous gastric aspirates in a 6‐hour period. Voluminous gastric residuals are defined as more than 50% of previous feed volume if 6 mL per feed or more, or 2 episodes of more than 50% in a 6‐hour period, or a single residue of 100% if feed volume is less than 6 mL per feed