Enteral feeding of intrauterine growth restriction preterm infants: theoretical risks and practical implications.

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) infants are thought to have impaired gut function after birth secondary to intrauterine redistribution of the blood flow, due to placental insufficiency, with a consequent reduction of gut perfusion. For this reason, infants complicated by IUGR have been considered at higher risk of feeding intolerance. Postnatal evaluation of splanchnic perfusion, through Doppler of the superior mesenteric artery, and of splanchnic oxygenation, through near infrared spectroscopy measurements, may be useful in evaluating the persistence (or not) of the redistribution of blood flow occurred in utero.