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Aggressive nutrition for preterm infants--benefits and risks

Karen Simmer1

  • 1Neonatology Clinical Care Unit, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women and University of Western Australia, Australia. karen.simmer@health.wa.gov.au

Early Human Development
|September 29, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Very preterm infants often experience growth failure. Early parenteral nutrition (PN) with optimized protein and enteral feeds, alongside fortified mother's milk, can improve growth and reduce infections.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal nutrition
  • Perinatal medicine
  • Pediatric growth and development

Background:

  • Very preterm infants frequently exhibit growth failure in neonatal intensive care units.
  • Recent guidelines emphasize fetal growth references for protein and energy, increasing recommended protein intake.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To outline strategies for optimizing nutrition in very preterm infants to prevent growth failure.
  • To align nutritional support with revised guidelines for protein and energy requirements.

Main Methods:

  • Initiating parenteral nutrition (PN) with high protein and lipid content on day one.
  • Administering minimal enteral feeds (5-20 ml/kg/day) concurrently with PN, gradually increasing volume.
  • Prioritizing mother's own milk and adjusting fortification to meet new guidelines.

Main Results:

  • Early PN and carefully advanced enteral feeds are crucial for limiting growth failure.
  • Revised fortification schedules for human milk are necessary to meet updated nutritional targets.
  • This approach aims to improve infant growth, neurodevelopment, and reduce infection rates.

Conclusions:

  • Optimizing nutritional strategies, including early PN and tailored enteral feeding with fortified human milk, is essential for very preterm infants.
  • Adherence to revised protein and energy guidelines can mitigate growth failure and associated complications.
  • This integrated approach supports better outcomes, including reduced infection risk and avoidance of catch-up growth issues.

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