Oral erythromycin and feeding intolerance in preterm infants

Milk intolerance is a common problem in a preterm neonate with low birth weight, which results in the need to feed through the vessel with its many complications. Erythromycin is an antibiotic with prokinetic properties that can have beneficial effects in the treatment of this disorder. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of moderate dose erythromycin on the treatment of intolerance to nutrition in preterm infants. In this randomized clinical trial, the neonates were randomly divided into two groups receiving erythromycin (20 mg/kg/day) or placebo, and the number of cases of milk intolerance (milk lavage), milk filling time, necrotizing enterocolitis, duration of hospitalization, probable complications of erythromycin, such as hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, and other cases were compared in both groups. 64 preterm infants with the mean gestational age of 30.1 ± 2.49 weeks were studied. The number of milk intolerance and the mean milk filling time (150 cc/kg/day) were significantly lower in the erythromycin group than in the control group (P<0.05). Other variables were not significantly different between the two groups of erythromycin and placebo (P>0.05). Erythromycin with a moderate dose was effective in reducing the incidence of milk intolerance and improving the mean time to reach the full volume of milk in premature neonates with low birth weight, and it appeared to be a safe drug for these neonates.