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REVIEW article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1449022
This article is part of the Research Topic The First 1000 Days: Window of Opportunity for Child Health and Development View all 3 articles

Improving growth in preterm infants through nutrition: a practical overview

Provisionally accepted
Domenico Umberto De Rose Domenico Umberto De Rose 1*Elena Maggiora Elena Maggiora 2Giulia Maiocco Giulia Maiocco 2Daniela Morniroli Daniela Morniroli 3Giulia Vizzari Giulia Vizzari 3Valentina Tiraferri Valentina Tiraferri 3Alessandra Coscia Alessandra Coscia 2Francesco Cresi Francesco Cresi 2ANDREA DOTTA ANDREA DOTTA 1Guglielmo Salvatori Guglielmo Salvatori 1Maria Lorella Giannì Maria Lorella Giannì 3
  • 1 Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (IRCCS), Rome, Italy
  • 2 University of Turin, Turin, Piedmont, Italy
  • 3 IRCCS Ca 'Granda Foundation Maggiore Policlinico Hospital, Milan, Lombardy, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The primary purpose of this practical overview is to provide a practical update on appropriate nutritional strategies to improve growth in preterm infants. Current recommendations for improving preterm growth concern both macronutrients and micronutrients, with tailored nutrition since the first days of life, particularly when fetal growth restriction has been reported. Human milk is undoubtedly the best nutrition for all newborns, but, in some populations, if not adequately fortified, it does not adequately support their growth. In all preterms, growth should be correctly monitored weekly to intercept a negative trend of growth and implement nutritional strategies to avoid growth restriction.Similarly, growth should be accurately supported and monitored after discharge to improve long-term health consequences.

    Keywords: extra-uterine growth restriction, Parenteral Nutrition, human milk, prematurity, fortification, fetal growth restriction

    Received: 14 Jun 2024; Accepted: 30 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 De Rose, Maggiora, Maiocco, Morniroli, Vizzari, Tiraferri, Coscia, Cresi, DOTTA, Salvatori and Giannì. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Domenico Umberto De Rose, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (IRCCS), Rome, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.