Bronchiolitis is the most common lower respiratory tract infection in infants and the leading cause of hospital admission. Hydration is a mainstay of treatment, but insufficient evidence exists to guide clinical practice. We aimed to assess whether intravenous hydration or nasogastric hydration is better for treatment of infants.

In this multicentre, open, randomised trial, we enrolled infants aged 2-12 months admitted to hospitals in Australia and New Zealand with a clinical diagnosis of bronchiolitis during three bronchiolitis seasons.

Mean length of stay for 381 infants assigned nasogastric hydration was 86·6 h (SD 58·9) compared with 82·2 h (58·8) for 378 infants assigned intravenous hydration.

Intravenous hydration and nasogastric hydration are appropriate means to hydrate infants with bronchiolitis.

Nasogastric insertion might require fewer attempts and have a higher success rate of insertion than intravenous hydration.

The study demonstrates that either route of fluid administration appears effective and safe but that access for NG fluid administration is easier to achieve.

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