Toce 1987.

Methods	Quasi‐experimental. Alternate assignment within 16 groups. Stratified: <1250g, 1250‐1500g, sex, IUGR, and prior need for ventilation. Blindness of randomisation ‐ Can't tell. Blindness of intervention ‐ No. Complete follow‐up ‐ No. Blinding of outcome measurement ‐ Can't tell.
Participants	83 infants (obtained consent). 30 excluded (completed less than 7 days). 53 analysed. Inclusion: Preterm infants <= 1500grams, no major congenital anomalies, no longer ventilated, and ready for enteral nutrition.
Interventions	Continuous feeds delivered by infusion pump. Intermittent feeds every 3 hours by gravity. Feeding protocol for infants. Predetermined criteria to manage feeding intolerance (feeds held > 16 hours). Energy intake constant between groups. Feeds: sterile water, initially diluted formula. Timing of Feeds: Protocol was not stated. Actual for Continuous group was 9.7 +/‐ 7.1 days and for Intermittent group was 7.3 +/‐ 4.8 days.
Outcomes	Somatic growth (weight, length, head circumference, and skinfold thickness gains), feeding related complications, changes in total protein, bilirubin, and albumin.
Notes	Subjective eligibility criteria, no sample size calculation, and not intent‐to‐treat. Definition of feeding intolerance not described. Significant differences in demographic factors between groups: low one‐minute Apgar scores in the Continous group, and increase frequency of human milk feeding in the Intermittent bolus gavage feeding method. Awaiting subgroup data.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	High risk	Quasi‐experimental. Alternate assignment within 16 groups. Stratified: <1250g, 1250‐1500g, sex, IUGR, and prior need for ventilation.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Caregivers not blinded as would not be feasible.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Post‐randomisation exclusion of infants from the analysis resulted in loss to follow‐up.