Nutritional assessment of the neonate

Application of nutritional assessment techniques during the neonatal period provides the clinician with a strategy for evaluating the adequacy of macronutrient intake. To this end, the MAC:HC ratio and ponderal index appear to be more sensitive than birth weight in identifying newborns at risk for morbidity from fetal growth aberrations. In longitudinal assessment of postnatal growth the clinician is faced with several choices of anthropometric and/or biochemical techniques, either singly or in combination, to identify specific problems concerning protein energy nutritional status. Measurements of weight, length, and head and mid arm circumferences may be used both as static and dynamic assessments, but are more valid indicators when considered in relation to each other. Short-term biochemical markers, such as prealbumin, are more useful than albumin in assessing the effect of recent changes in protein intake. At the present time other biochemical tests are not helpful in the daily management of protein energy nutrition in infancy.