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Optimizing Nutrition for Preterm Newborns

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 January 2024) | Viewed by 3115

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Pediatric Nutrition Service – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, University Hospital, Padova, Italy
Interests: nutrition in pediatrics; parenteral nutrition; preterm infants; growth; bone status; necrotizing enterocolitis; short bowel syndrome
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Guest Editor
Divisionof Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Interests: prevention and treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and retinopathy of prematurity through retinoids and flavonoids

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of nutrition in preterm infants is to administer substrates from the first days of life in order to face the prematurely interrupted placental supply.

This is an important task since optimizing the nutritional status with an earlier and adequate nutrition can result in better growth, respiratory, vision and neurodevelopmental outcomes, while reducing comorbidities of preterm birth.

Nutrition knowledge in neonatology has improved a lot in recent decades, but there are still some topics that need further studies and research.Appropriate nutrition at the beginning of life could have long-term beneficial effects along with changes in the gut microbiome of the preterm newborn infants that could affect the rest of the infant’s life.

Therefore, the nutritional research directions of this Special Issue will include:

  • Study of enteral nutrition and human milk fortification (types of fortifiers and timing of administration);
  • Possible effects of macro and micromutrients in Parenteral Nutrition(PN) and new potential components of PN;
  • Strategies to prevent and early detect macro and micronutrient deficiencies or overload in preterm newborns;
  • Special nutritional needs in intrauterine growth retarded newborns and newborns suffering from bronchopulmonary dysplasia, short bowel syndrome and metabolic bone disease;
  • Nutrition and neonatal outcomes such as bone growth, gastrointestinal, neurological, vision and respiratory outcomes;
  • Long term effects of nutrition at the beginning of life;
  • The role of microbiome of newborns in health and disease status.

Dr. Giovanna Verlato
Prof. Dr. Xanthi I. Couroucli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • preterm newborn
  • pediatric nutrition
  • enteral nutrition
  • parenteral nutrition
  • macro and micronutrients
  • growth and outcomes

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 294 KiB  
Article
Bone Status and Early Nutrition in Preterm Newborns with and without Intrauterine Growth Restriction
by Marta Meneghelli, Andrea Peruzzo, Elena Priante, Maria Elena Cavicchiolo, Luca Bonadies, Laura Moschino, Francesca De Terlizzi and Giovanna Verlato
Nutrients 2023, 15(22), 4753; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15224753 - 11 Nov 2023
Viewed by 936
Abstract
Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) together with preterm birth could be harmful to bone health. The aim of the study was to examine bone status in IUGR versus non-IUGR preterms and to analyze the nutritional management best correlated with its improvement. Newborns < 34 [...] Read more.
Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) together with preterm birth could be harmful to bone health. The aim of the study was to examine bone status in IUGR versus non-IUGR preterms and to analyze the nutritional management best correlated with its improvement. Newborns < 34 weeks of gestational age (wGA), 75 IUGR and 75 non-IUGR, admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital of Padova were enrolled and monitored from birth until 36 wGA through anthropometry (weight, length, head circumference, lower limb length (LLL)), biochemistry, bone quantitative ultrasound assessment of bone status (metacarpus bone transmission time, mc-BTT, us) and nutritional intakes monitoring during parenteral nutrition. IUGR compared to non-IUGR showed lower mean mc-BTT (0.45 vs. 0.51, p = 0.0005) and plasmatic phosphate (1.45 vs. 1.79, p < 0.001) at birth. Mc-BTT at 36 wGA, though equal between groups, correlated in IUGR newborns with basal phosphate, mean total energy of the first week and month (positively) and days to reach full enteral feeding (negatively). Lower i.v. vitamin D intake, LLL and prolonged total parenteral nutrition predicted worse mc-BTT at 36 wGA in the enrolled infants. These results suggest that preterms and in particular IUGR newborns need special nutritional care to promote bone development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimizing Nutrition for Preterm Newborns)
16 pages, 1421 KiB  
Article
Effects of Maternal Stress on Breast Milk Production and the Microbiota of Very Premature Infants
by María del Carmen Fernández-Tuñas, Alejandro Pérez-Muñuzuri, Rocío Trastoy-Pena, María Luisa Pérez del Molino and María L. Couce
Nutrients 2023, 15(18), 4006; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15184006 - 16 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1773
Abstract
Perinatal stress experienced by mothers of very premature newborns may influence the mother’s milk and the infant’s intestinal microbiota. This prospective study of mothers of very preterm infants fed with mother’s own milk (MOM) was carried out in a tertiary hospital over a [...] Read more.
Perinatal stress experienced by mothers of very premature newborns may influence the mother’s milk and the infant’s intestinal microbiota. This prospective study of mothers of very preterm infants fed with mother’s own milk (MOM) was carried out in a tertiary hospital over a 2-year period. The assessment of maternal stress in 45 mothers of 52 very preterm newborns using the parental stress scale (PSS:NICU) revealed an inverse relationship between stress and MOM production in the first days of life (p = 0.012). The greatest contributor to stress was the one related to the establishment of a mother–child bond. Maternal stress was lower in mothers in whom the kangaroo method was established early (p = 0.011) and in those with a higher educational level (p = 0.032). Levels of fecal calprotectin (FC) decreased with the passage of days and were directly correlated with birthweight (p = 0.044). FC levels 7 days post-delivery were lower in newborns that received postnatal antibiotics (p = 0.027). High levels of maternal stress resulted in progressive decreases and increases in the proportions of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria species, respectively, over 15 days post-delivery, both in MOM and in fecal samples from premature newborns. These findings underscore the importance of recognizing and appropriately managing maternal stress in neonatal units, given its marked influence on both the microbiota of maternal milk and the intestinal microbiota of premature newborns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimizing Nutrition for Preterm Newborns)
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