Feeding Children with Gastrointestinal Impairment

Achieving optimum nutrition for children with gastrointestinal impairment may require different means of management, as addressed in this NNI symposium at ESPGHAN 2024. Prof. Claudio Romano introduces key examples of clinical acute and chronic conditions with underlying gastrointestinal impairment, including neurological impairment and oncology, along with the risks of malnutrition and associated co-morbidities, and presents various nutritional approaches meant to fulfill special patients’ needs. Prof. Antonella Diamanti discusses modalities of feeding patients with special nutritional needs, including bolus vs. continuous feeding and enteral nutrition (EN) alone vs EN+Nissen surgery and compares the efficacy of those approaches for improvement of gastrointestinal EN tolerance and their benefits in clinical practice. Dr. Graeme O’Connor, looks into new developments in the use of EN with real food in clinical practice, including an overview of current status of clinical evidences and expert positions. He also sheds light on the evolution of the trend in EN from home blenderized feed to new commercial formula with real food and presents the benefit of the last on tolerance and improved GI symptoms in enterally fed patients with various conditions, including critically ill patients.