Dear Janet and others,

NPO means "Nothing per os,"  "per os" being "by mouth."
So--  "nothing by mouth."

"po meds" are medicines taken by mouth (as opposed to IM-intramuscular,
IV-intravenous or SC- subcutaneous (under the skin).

People are often put NPO after midnight before surgery to avoid aspiration,
young children often NPO for 4-8 hours before surgery, etc., so they probably
think they're being liberal to say npo for only one hour.

I agree that npo for one hour is probably appropriate for abm-fed babies, but
breastmilk is so physiologic aspiration is not a risk, and npo should not be
necessary.

Tina Smillie, MD (pediatrics)
back on lactnet after a month of nomail. I've missed you all.