Key Statements
Essentials for Unit 2
Adequate nutrition is essential for the survival and short and long term outcomes and health of preterm infants.
Optimal nutritional care of the preterm infant will allow for growth that parallels fetal growth.
Nutritional requirements of preterm infants are unique and should be carefully managed to avoid growth faltering and delayed development.
Preterm infants have particularly high needs of energy, protein, long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, and other nutrients.
Energy requirements: enterally-fed, growing preterm infants usually require 100-130 kcal/kg/day. Parenterally-fed preterm infants generally need 85-110 kcal/kg/day.
Amino acids are essential to build lean body mass and should be present in diet at day 1.
DHA and ARA should be provided during early enteral feeding, since both are essential for early development.
Up to 77% of preterm infants develop iron deficiency (ID) anemia in their first half year of life.
Most preterm infants will require vitamin supplementation soon after birth.
Please refer to table 8 for a review on the current recommendations of advisable nutrient intakes for fully enterally fed preterm VLBW infants per kg/day and per 100 kcal energy intake, compared to the previous intake recommendations of the US Life Science Research Office (for formula-fed preterm infants only) (Klein 2002, Klein & Heird 2005), of Tsang et al. 2005 and of the ESPGHAN, 2010 (Agostoni et al. 2010).
Table 8. Current recommendations for fully enterally fed preterm VLBW infants
Source: Koletzko et al. 2014b, reprinted with permission of S. Karger AG, Switzerland