Comparison of the baseline characteristics of the groups
| Characteristic | Group with routine gastric residual control (n=169) | Group without routine gastric residual control (n=122) | P value |
| Birth weight (g) | 1538.48±509.05 | 1443.65±550.38 | 0.13 |
| Gestational age (week) | 30.37±2.58 | 29.31±3.37 | 0.03 |
| Length at birth (cm) | 39.96±4.60 | 39.16±6.01 | 0.23 |
| Male gender, n (%) | 90 (53.3) | 65 (53.3) | 0.99 |
| Antenatal steroid, n (%) | 50 (29.6) | 29 (23.7) | 0.03 |
| Apgar scores at fifth minute | 8 (4–10) | 8 (2–9) | 0.29 |
| CRIB II score | 4 (0–14) | 3 (1–15) | 0.24 |
| Use of caffeine, n (%) | 98 (57.9) | 74 (60.6) | 0.63 |
| Mode of delivery, n (%) | |||
| Vaginal | 43 (25.4) | 32 (26.2) | 0.88 |
| C-section | 126 (74.6) | 90 (73.8) | 0.88 |
| Type of enteral feeding, n (%) | 0.45 | ||
| Only mother’s milk | 87 (51.5) | 60 (49.2) | |
| Only formula | 33 (19.6) | 20 (16.4) | |
| Mix of mother’s milk and formula | 49 (28.9) | 42 (34.4) |
CRIB, Clinical Risk Index for Babies