Study of newborn infants with stomas. To assess complications and death rates after stoma formation as well as the reasons for stoma formation and the timing of stoma closure.

When a newborn baby needs bowel surgery, surgeons sometimes need to create a stoma — an opening on the surface of the abdomen to allow waste to exit the body while the bowel heals. Stomas can be life-saving for very sick newborns, but there are many unanswered questions about when they are best used, which type to create, and when to close them. This study is a carefully designed observational registry across Australia and New Zealand to capture real-world data on all neonatal stomas performed over a minimum 3-month period. It is not a treatment study — no changes are made to care — but the data collected will help clinicians better understand complications, survival rates, and decision-making around stoma formation and closure for this vulnerable group of patients. Eligibility is specific to newborns: any infant receiving a new gastrointestinal stoma (including gastrostomy, small bowel enterostomy, or colostomy) during the study recruitment period may be included. Infants over 30 days corrected gestational age are excluded.