The basal metabolic rate of low-birth-weight infants is lower than that of full-term infants during the first week of life, but it reaches and exceeds that of the full-term infant by the second week. Daily caloric requirements reach 50 to 100 kcal/kg by the end of the first week of life and usually increase to 110 to 150 kcal/kg in subsequent active growth. A partition of the daily minimum ener...

Because of the rapid rate of anabolic processes and brain growth, no patient faces a more critical need for optimal nutrition than the low birthweight (LBW) infant. Nutritional requirements of these infants, however, remain unclear. Much of the controversy centers on the question: How fast should they grow? The Committee on Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics (1) has stated that: "T...

Optimal nutrition is critical in the management of the ever-increasing number of surviving small premature infants. Although the most appropriate goal of nutrition of the low-birth-weight (LBW) infant is not definitively known, achieving a postnatal growth that approximates the in utero growth of a normal fetus at the same postconception age appears to be the most logical approach at present.’ ...

The basal metabolic rate of low-birth-weight infants is lower than that of full-term infants during the first week of life, but it reaches and exceeds that of the full-term infant by the second week. Daily caloric requirements reach 50 to 100 kcal/kg by the end of the first week of life and usually increase to 110 to 150 kcal/kg in subsequent active growth. A partition of the daily minimum ener...

Optimal nutrition is critical in the management of the ever-increasing number of surviving small premature infants. Although the most appropriate goal of nutrition of the low-birth-weight (LBW) infant is not definitively known, achieving a postnatal growth that approximates the in utero growth of a normal fetus at the same postconception age appears to be the most logical approach at present.’ ...

Optimal nutrition is critical in the management of the ever-increasing number of surviving small premature infants. Although the most appropriate goal of nutrition of the low-birth-weight (LBW) infant is not definitively known, achieving a postnatal growth that approximates the in utero growth of a normal fetus at the same postconception age appears to be the most logical approach at present.’ ...

The basal metabolic rate of low-birth-weight infants is lower than that of full-term infants during the first week of life, but it reaches and exceeds that of the full-term infant by the second week. Daily caloric requirements reach 50 to 100 kcal/kg by the end of the first week of life and usually increase to 110 to 150 kcal/kg in subsequent active growth. A partition of the daily minimum ener...