Postoperative management of cesarean patients: the effect of immediate feeding on the incidence of ileus.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effect of immediate feeding on gastrointestinal function in patients undergoing cesarean delivery.

METHODS

A prospective study was conducted in which patients were randomized to one of two groups, either early feeding or delayed feeding, ie, feeding according to the institution's current protocol. Questionnaires were filled out by the subjects on the day of discharge. Fisher exact test was used to compare the two groups with respect to the type of anesthetic used and to compare the incidence of gastrointestinal symptoms. A one-sided exact binomial confidence interval was used to determine the upper bound of the likelihood of paralytic ileus. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the presence of ileus symptoms when controlling for the type of anesthetic used.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences between the control and study groups. There was no significant difference in the number of gastrointestinal symptoms between the two groups. The incidence of postoperative paralytic ileus was zero in both the study and control groups.

CONCLUSION

Routine early feeding of subjects undergoing cesarean delivery can be implemented without an increase in gastrointestinal symptoms or paralytic ileus.