Hi Elizabeth
We use sucrose in all our babies. For babies less than 1500g we give 0.1mL sucrose 24% up to 3 doses per procedure. The sucrose we use, this equates to 3 drops. The most inportant thing for those tiny babies is not to give the dose all at once as there is a risk of apnoea / bradycardia. We have being using sucrose in all our babies (24weeks +) since 2009 and we haven't had an increase in NEC. We do limit the number of doses per 24 hours. We used to give up to 10 doses per 24 hours but in 2012 our state guidelines changed to up to 3 doses per procedure and 5 procedures per 24 hours - not sure why they chose this!
Regards Nettie