Ten key concepts in Neonatal Nutrition

Premature infants are at high nutritional risk because of poor nutrient stores and the high nutrient demands required for growth. Better nutrition is key for improving survival or preterm infants, and with increased survival nutritional needs had become more important and complex. Nutrition is much more than just nutrients, functional and microbial components as well as behavioral aspects of feeding should be considered. Preterm nutrition should target provision of adequate and enough nutrition for the phase of rapid physical and particularly cerebral growth, but taking care to not overload the systems. Own mother’s milk is the first choice in preterm nutrition not only because of nutritional properties, but for its protection against sepsis and other infections, including necrotizing enterocolitis.