Parenteral nutrition in very low birth weight infants in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Parenteral nutrition (PN) plays an important role in providing nutrients for infants unable to tolerate enteral feeds study was to look at PN prescribing in neonatal units in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Ireland, in particular in infants < 1.5 kg. A postal questionnaire was administered to the 235 neonatal units. The response rate was 179 (76%), of which 136 (76%) used PN. The initial amount of protein prescribed was 0.1-2 g/kg/day in 102 units (91%), >2 g/kg/day in 4 (4%) and 5 (5%) used no protein. 88 (80%) started lipids with the first PN prescription. Only 5 units (5%) started with >1 g/kg/day. The maximum dose of lipids and protein both varied from 2 - >4 g/kg/day. The initial glucose infusion rate was 4-8 mg/kg/min. Interestingly only 44% of units started PN in the first 24 hours of age. Hence results show great variation in PN prescribing.