Information for Parents

Metabolic acidosis is a build-up of acid in the blood. Many babies that are born prematurely will experience metabolic acidosis during their hospital stay.

Sodium bicarbonate is often used when premature babies have metabolic acidosis. Some doctors believe that giving a drug called sodium bicarbonate lowers acid levels in the blood and helps the working of the heart, but others believe sodium bicarbonate raises acid levels inside the cells of the body which can affect blood flow to the brain and other organs in the body.

Both giving and not giving sodium bicarbonate when a baby has metabolic acidosis is current practice and varies between different hospitals around the UK. At the moment we do not know which approach for babies is better because this has never been properly studied.

We are conducting a study to find out whether or not to use sodium bicarbonate for metabolic acidosis. Babies diagnosed with metabolic acidosis will be allocated at random to be given sodium bicarbonate or not.

Please read our Parent Information Leaflet and Introduction Leaflet below to find out more information about the study. You can also watch our BASE Introduction Video by clicking here.


BASE Parent Information Leaflet (PIL)



BASE Introduction Leaflet

Further Support

If you have any questions about the study, you can contact the BASE study team at the University of Oxford by emailing base@npeu.ox.ac.uk