Fasting for anaesthesia: Less is more

Coinciding with a quality improvement project to decrease clear fluid fasting times and supported by evidence of the safety of shorter clear fluid fasting times, we changed our policy at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 2017 to a 1-hour fasting time for clear fluids. Tube feeding formula itself fits into the 6-hour fast category for a light meal, infant formula and non-human milk, but fasting guidelines were created for a bolus meal, not the continuous infusion used in post-pyloric tube feeding. Most studies of enteral tube feedings in children with endotracheal tube or tracheostomy are done within the critical care setting, rather than in the operating suite.