TABLE 3.

Fasting guidelines in elective patients (*ASA guidelines 1999).

Ingested material	Minimum fasting duration (hours)
Meal with high fat or meat content	8 or more in adults, 6 h in children
Light meals	6 in adults
Breast milk – no additions to pumped breast milk allowed	4
Infant formula or non-human milk	6
Clear fluids (water, clear fruit juice without pulp, non-fizzy sports drinks, tea and coffee black or with a maximum 10 mL of milk, and non-carbonated drinks)	Up to 2 h in adult and 1 h in children

Source: Lerman J. Preoperative assessment and premedication in paediatrics. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2013;30:645–650. https://doi.org/10.1097/EJA.0b013e328360c3e2

Note: Causes of delayed gastric emptying: metabolic causes, for example, diabetes mellitus, renal failure, sepsis; decreased gastric motility, for example, head injury and trauma; bowel obstruction; raised intra-abdominal pressure, for example, pregnancy and obesity; drugs, for example, opioids; severe trauma and pain; and gastro-oesophageal reflux, may be associated with delayed emptying of solids but not liquids.