Current nutrition practices in premature and low-birth-weight newborns: A descriptive cohort study.

BACKGROUND

This study aims to describe the nutrition approach to preterm and low-birth-weight infants during hospitalization in a level 3 neonatal intensive care unit.

METHODS

Descriptive cohort study on preterm infants with gestational age ≤34 weeks or birth weight ≤1500 g admitted for hospitalization between January 2021 and December 2022. Data were collected from medical records.

RESULTS

The sample consisted of 85 preterm infants. All received parenteral nutrition, which was started on the first day of life in 98.8% of them. Trophic nutrition was started by the third day of life in 74.7% of the preterm infants. The median start of trophic nutrition was 5 days in infants with a birth weight <1000 g, 3 days in infants with a birth weight from 1000 to <1500 g, and 2 days in infants with birth weight ≥1500 g (P < 0.001). Preterm infants with a birth weight ≥1500 g started enteral nutrition and reached full enteral nutrition earlier (P < 0.001) than the other birth weight subgroups. The diet was suspended for >24 h in 26 preterm infants (30.6%). At discharge, 84.7% of the infants were receiving breast milk, with 25.9% exclusively breastfeeding and 58.8% partially breastfeeding.

CONCLUSIONS

Earlier initiation of enteral feeding in line with the latest guidelines can be optimized with the availability of donor milk from a human milk bank.