Is Feeding During Therapeutic Hypothermia Safe and Can Improve Outcomes in Infants With Hypoxic-ischaemic Encephalopathy

Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is the standard of care for newborns with moderate to severe hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) born at 35 weeks or more of gestation. Many neonatal units do not use enteral feeding during TH, in fear of increased risk of complications. Withholding enteral feedings during TH lacks supporting evidence. The aim of the study is to determine if enteral feeding during TH in patients with HIE is safe and assess its effects. Investigators will perform multicenter randomized controlled study in level III neonatal intensive care units on infants qualified for TH. Infants will be randomized into 2 groups: (1) unfed during 72 hours of TH; (2) fed group, which will start receive enteral feeding with mother milk or human donor breast milk at 10 ml/kg/day during first day of TH, 20 ml/kg/day during second day, 30 ml/kg/day during third day. The primary outcome will be (1) combined necrotizing enterocolitis or death, (2) length of hospital stay. The secondary outcomes will be (1) time to full enteral feeding, (2) late-onset sepsis, (3) Test of Infant Motor Performance scoring, (4) MRI scoring, (5) MR spectroscopy parameters.